I love the show the biggest looser. I love the peoples stories. I especially love week 1 where they loose a ton of weight. That first week their workouts are sloppy, people are crying, throwing up, and wanting to quit. They have to choose what they want more… Do they want to live a long life, be active with their families, and loose the weight… knowing they will have to embrace pain, vomit, and change. Or they can choose to be obese, spend their lives sitting, and die at an early age… not have to hurt by exercise, eat whatever they want, and not change. They have a choice, it seems easy on the surface, but to do the biggest looser they will have to overcome years of bad habits.
I see people all the time that are not spiritually fit. People who wander why their faith has grown cold and they haven’t prayed in months. Marriages who are facing divorce but never asked someone for help. Parents who’s kids hate church, but taught them church was a priority as long as it didn’t interrupt football, baseball, the lake, weekend at home, grandma’s house, or anything else that came up this week. Then you meet people that spend time getting the Word in them everyday, they have a vibrant prayer life, they serve people everywhere they go, they walk in humility by inviting wiser people into their lives before there is a problem. They have a joy all over them though they may face the same circumstances of those listed before. What is the difference?
1 Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Where do you need to walk in discipline? Are you spending time with Jesus everyday? Are you in the Word? Are you serving others? Do you have community in your life to lead you? How much of your prayer time is talking vs. listening?
God is for you and has called us to live focused lives so we can enjoy the results of disciple. Now hear me. If you do a disciplined life, God will not love you more. If you do not He will not love you less. You are not earning anything here. You are getting to know the character, confidence, strength, humility, power, refreshing, and love of a Father who wants to put His nature in you. It is an invitation into a full life of His goodness.
So what do you need to do today to walk in disciple? Plan it, wake up early, go to be late, you are not shadow boxing my friend! Jesus has great things for you today!
Recklessly, obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
