One evening while I was spending time with my fiance’s family in their living room, her father turned on the television to ABC.  Usually I refrain from watching television but a show came on which instantly fixated my attention: “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.”    I had seen before, and others had told me about, the amazing things that the regular “Extreme Makeover” show had brought about for people — remodeled houses for people who couldn’t afford it yet needed it and for those who give their lives to some great cause and are without funds to repair their homes.  Yet, when I saw this same show having a “Weight Loss Edition,” I was shocked at the mere idea of it.  The first episode I saw consisted of someone who weighed over 500 lbs. and had to be weighed on a freight scale because no other scale was able to weigh them.  As the show progresses, usually this individual learns to eat healthy, exercise, and then by the end of the show they look like an entirely different person.  The makeover ends up being, well, extreme – sometimes people go from over 500 lbs. to a normal and average weight.  It is just shocking to see the transformation.

Watching this show and simply scoffing at the morbidly obese person is easy.  Yet, the situation is a little different when the spotlight is turned to ourselves.  Regardless of our weight and body appearance, are we actually serious about our own personal health management?  As strange as it reads, sometimes skinnier people who appear to look good can be unhealthier than someone who is slightly overweight, based on what they eat, how much they exercise, what they drink, and so forth. Given that most Americans, including Christians, are overweight, eat out often, and don’t exercise, it seems we are probably not very concerned about our own health management.  Just consider yesterday – how many calories did you eat versus how many you’re supposed to eat?  How many calories did you bur?  What was the difference between the two?  And how helpful was your exercise and those foods you ate?  Or do you even have any idea about those questions or the answers to those questions?

We must be serious about our health management because God who created our bodies is serious about them.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So, glorify God in your body.”  If we are Christians, then the Holy Spirit actually dwells in us.  Therefore, we are to honor God with our bodies.  This transcends into even how we manage it physically.

If you are like me up until the past couple months, you probably have had little knowledge about how to manage your physical health.  That’s okay!  We have plenty of resources available.  Apps like LIVESTRONG and MyFitnessPal have helped me calculate how many calories I am supposed to have, how to track them for everything I eat, how to track my workout, to being to see a difference in my lifestyle, and then to track my monthly progress.  I would offer these apps and similar online resources to aid you as you learn to manage your health.  So, instead of making fun and simply be shocked at the morbidly obese person on television, let’s actually follow Paul’s teaching and glorify God with our bodies by managing our physical health in a way that is honoring to God.

So, many of us believe in Jesus, right? We do not hesitate to use that exact phrasing whenever someone asks are you a Christian, why will you get to go to heaven, or how do you become a Christian. We always use that phrase: believe in Jesus. I want to encourage you to think about moving beyond that phrase and asking yourself a new question; do you believe Jesus? Do you believe His words, message, and commands? Ask the real question: do I believe this at a 10, or does my level of belief fall short?

Jesus made some pretty ridiculous claims. He also made some pretty tough statements. I want to examine some of what Jesus taught and ask the question, what if we believed this, really believed it, so strongly that we lived differently in response to it? Action is the evidence of our beliefs.

So ask yourself, what if I did not stop at believing in Jesus; what if I also really believed Jesus?

Maybe we would . . .

Seek blessing from the unending grace of God instead of working for blessing through our Godless independence, our temporary happiness, our displays of personal strength, our diligently self-focused desires, our judgment of others, our manipulative deceptions, our desire to force our opinions, or our artful dodge of those who may persecute us for our beliefs. (Mt 5:3-10)

Ask forgiveness from those whom we daily murder with our hatred and bitterness. (Mt 5:21-24)

Stop brushing aside our lustful desires as a small thing, a secret vice, or a personal issue. (Mt 5:27-30)

Take our wedding vows more seriously than our parents did. (Mt 5:31-32)

Pray, instead of resist, those who persecute us. (Mt 5:38-47)

Care more for God’s glory than our own. (Mt 6:1-8)

Work harder to help people discover the Kingdom of God than we do at our vocations. (Mt 6:24)

Be terrified of the coming judgment, which will mirror the judgments we have already passed upon others. (Mt 7:1-5)

Those are the easy ones. Now, let’s follow Jesus’s lead, pushing things a little further than our Sunday School moralism.

What if we believed . . .

We could approach God the Father as our Father? Would we struggle, worry, and wait when praying for something, or would confidently move forward, knowing sometimes God says yes and trusting our good Father when He says no? (Mt 6:9, 7:7-11)

The gate leading to Heaven is indeed narrow, and the way hard? Would we feel confident and assured by simply saying a prayer and then chasing our American Dream, or would we expect our Christian walk to be marked by something more substantial than a vague hope in a mystical prayer? (Mt 7:13-14, Lk 13:24-29)

That our actions belie our beliefs? Would we really make allowance for such a thing as a carnal Christian? (Mt 7:15-19)

That many will approach the throne room in expectation to be met with judgment? Would we continue to watch the sins in others go unaddressed for fear of personal offense? Would we continue to ignore the commands of God, give lip service to the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, pursue material wealth, and consider our sin in light of our self-assurance that “it will be okay?” (Mt 7:21-27)

Believing the words of Jesus should dramatically alter the pursuits of our lives. Believing Jesus would do so much more than believing in Him. The question is, are you prepared to give yourself fully to a God who demands everything?

The question I will be considering in my next post will be whether or not we really believe that Jesus is Lord. In the mean time, continue asking yourself, “Do I believe this at a 10, or do my lips speak differently than my life?”

Does this video remind you of your church or small group? I hope not. Unfortunately, though, I think the attitudes described here are all too common in our churches.

Harold Camping has certainly caused a stir.  What began as billboard campaign by a small and very peculiar religious group predicting Judgment Day on May 21st has now caught the attention of the nation with both national and local news stations carrying stories about the predicted Rapture as well as the often skeptical and sometimes funny reaction on the Internet.  Still others are nervous: who knows, maybe Camping is a modern day Noah?

To be clear: I do not believe May 21st is the Judgment Day foretold in Scripture.  There are several problems with Camping’s Scriptural “evidence” from his system including his method of interpretation (hermeneutics), his broad, theological framework, and down to the individual verses he misinterprets.  The Scriptures warn us that we cannot know the day or hour (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7).

I suspect May 21st will begin and end as any day before it, and Harold Camping and his followers will be disappointed yet again.

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When some people think of online dating, they think of people like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite (see here).  But according to today’s statistics, one out of five relationships begins on the internet.  Take a look at John Piper’s video. I would be interested to hear what you think.  Is online/internet dating a legitimate option for Christian singles?

You are on the verge of wrecking your life.  I know that with certainty.  I’m not psychic, and I’m not reading your mind as you read this chapter.  I doubt this book will be in print long enough to be read by artificially intelligent androids; so for now, I’m assuming if you can read, I know you’re human.  And if you’re human you’ve been designed to picture God – more specifically to picture the union of God and humanity in the man named Jesus.

This means, if the ancient Scriptures are right (and I’m wagering my life, and the next one, that they are), unseen spiritual beings out there are disturbed by what you are reminding them of.  By the “you” in the last sentence, I don’t mean a generic colloquial use of “one” or “humanity” in general.  I mean you personally.

This is a great resource for men and women who struggle with the sin of pornography and lust.  Driscoll, like always, is candid and frank about the effects of porn on our lives, and he grounds his discussion in Scripture.  This is a must read for any Christian struggling with this issue.  Read it HERE from the Resurgence[dot]com.

As a political reporter, I found myself a few days ago in one of those smoky situations straight from a movie scene. To my left, an elected official danced close with a girl half his age, a girl not his wife. To my right, a lobbyist for a huge company stared drunkenly into the eyes of a female member of the press corps. She peeled his hand from her arm, which he was caressing; he put it right back.

Another highly paid lobbyist in an expensive, gray suit pulled the thick cigar from his lips, exhaled a ring of blue smoke, and turned to me.

“So now you see how a bill becomes a law?” he asked wryly. [...]

“Who then can comprehend the riches and the glory of the Christian life? It can do all things and has all things and lacks nothing. It is lord over sin, death and hell, and yet at the same time it serves, ministers to, and benefits all men. But alas in our day this life is unknown throughout the world; it is neither preached about nor sought after; we are altogether ignorant of our own name and do not know why we are Christians or bear the name of Christians. Surely we are named after Christ, not because he is absent from us, but because he dwells in us, that is, because we live in him and are Christs to one another and do to our neighbors as Christ does to us.”

-Martin Luther The freedom of a Christian (1520)

This observation made by Luther 500 years ago is an exhortation to every generation -our present day included. Everything we do is done fearlessly, selflessly and joyfully because of Jesus. We become ineffective and delusioned in Christ-less Christianity. We have ultimate victory -but only by and through him.