Balance

I was reading about various diets and discovered a large number that encourage bad eating habits. Often these fad diets are endorsed by beautiful celebrities, but in my opinion these food choices only put more stress on our bodies. These diets even warn against bad health, bad breath, and other more unpleasant side effects. This just sounds crazy to me.

I’m not a dietician and I’m not a nutritionist, but I’ve learned through my faith in God that balance is the key to a healthy, productive life.

God asks us to be active and not lazy. But we must also rest.

God asks us to live in the community and help others. But we must also find quiet time alone with Him.

And so we can also find balance in our lifestyle and the food we eat. God provides nutrition for our bodies through a wide variety of foods. As custodians of our bodies, we need to eat to keep ourselves strong. Not too much, not too little. If we find this healthy balance, then we won’t need any fad diet.

Ask God to help you find balance in every part of your life.

Wallpaper of the Week - John 3:16

I love caving. I love exploring the depths of the earth. It's fun and exciting and appeals to my sense of adventure.

The image above is in a cave system in Victoria, Australia. What you see is not the entrance to the caves, but a mere hole in the cave ceiling where the light is able to shine through. This is the only area in the otherwise dusty caves where there is such life.

Jesus is this life-giving light for us. If we choose not to bask in His glory, then we will wither and die. But if we do choose His light, then we will grow to be strong and vibrant.

On Lying

Lying is bad, right? It’s a sin because it’s a deception and it breaks trust. But is all lying bad?

We lie to build people up. When a friend asks if they look good, then our reply is generally yes. It’s only cruel to point out they are looking a little tired. It’s only mean to highlight their weight gain. It’s insensitive to suggest they would benefit from visiting a hairdresser they can’t afford. All those things are irrelevant anyway. And so we lie.

We lie to preserve the peace. A friend of mine claimed she paid only $200 for a ring. I was with her when she bought it and so I knew it cost her triple the amount. She needed me to agree with her. I knew an argument would follow if I reminded her of the truth, so I claimed I couldn’t remember. It was an easy way out.

We lie to protect our loved ones. We lie to protect ourselves. We lie to save someone’s feelings. We lie to support our friends. We lie to cover embarrassment.

It’s easy to justify lying. But it doesn’t make it right. These white lies are part of the “little” sins I spoke of yesterday.

God will never lie to us. We can completely trust Him 100% of the time. God doesn’t have moods to pander to. He doesn’t need to make himself look better than He is and He is able to protect us without deception.

There are ways of saving someone’s feelings, protecting someone’s safety, avoiding arguments without lying and without being so brutally honest that we end up hurting someone.

When Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” he wasn’t lying. (John 8:34)

So, walk away from the chains Jesus broke and strive to be more like him.

100 steps

Mathematical truth: if you have 100 steps in a process and each step has a 99% success rate, then the chance of gaining a successful completion is only 37%.

I’m not a mathematician so these numbers boggled my mind. I had expected a higher percentage of success.

This led me to thinking about Christianity in the community. When we accept just a small amount of sin in our lives, then we represent the 1% of failure. Failure to trust God. Failure to glorify God. Failure to be living examples of Christ. We might think it’s a little sin. We might think it’s inconsequential, but sin – all sin – is abhorrent to God. And sin impacts the community in ways that can be devastating.

When we feel all warm and fuzzy over the 99% of good Christian living we are able to achieve though trusting our Lord, we are ignoring that 1%. But when we combine all of us together, as we must since we are one community, then that minor 1% on a personal level becomes a magnified failure in the community.

No wonder everything seems so broken in our society. No wonder we struggle and we suffer. It’s because we too often accept those “little” sins. We think they don’t have much of an impact. We don’t even notice them eating away at our peace.

So, the next time you feel that spark of pride begin to rule your thoughts and your actions, give it instantly to the Lord. And if it’s not pride, then ask Him to show you where your 1% of weakness lies. Ask the Lord to show you where you may have relaxed your vigil.

What are some of the things to keep you alert against sin in your life?

Is Aging an Illness?

I read an article recently about how the treatment of ageing could be revolutionised by a new approach that classes it as an illness. David Gems, a biogerontologist, is quoted to have said at a conference in London, “If ageing is seen as a disease, it changes how we respond to it. For example, it becomes the duty of doctors to treat it.”

This statement upset me a great deal. Yes, ageing is a difficult process. I’m not as physically or mentally fast as I used to be. I’m more fragile. I have grey hairs, laugh lines and my eye sight is failing. But I’m not about to call it an illness.

Ageing is a natural process. It reminds us that this world and these bodies are only temporary. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

I’m not about to go all dark ages on anyone either and claim we aren’t allowed to cover up those grey hairs, or can’t use technologically advanced moisturiser. What I am saying however is that we don’t need to be afraid of our mortality. We don’t need to become obsessed with our appearance.

God will love us no matter how withered we become. He will be our strength when we grow weak (Isaiah 46:4). He is the light that shines out from us and makes us eternally beautiful (Revelation 21:23). He is our home. He is our forever.

Bargaining with God

One of my favourite movies of all time is Ladyhawke which was made in 1985. In the opening scene Phillipe Gaston (played by Matthew Broderick) is attempting to escape the dungeons of Aquila. He makes a bargain with God. If God rescues him, then he swears to never pick another pocket as long as he lives. God does get him out and the first thing that Phillipe does with his freedom is to pick another pocket. He says to God, “I know I promised, Lord, never again. But I also know, that you know, what a weak-willed person I am.”

The audience generally laughs at this point. We’ve all been there. We make a bargain with God and try to coax him into giving us the things we want. Then we don’t fulfil our end of the deal.

A small village in Bavaria, Germany, struck a bargain with God in 1633. The village of Oberammergau vowed to put on a play about Jesus every 10 years if God rid them of the plague. They have kept their promise for almost 400 years now. Their faith and dedication can be commended. But does this make it ok then to make a bargain with God?

I say no. God can’t be bargained with. We can’t flatter Him into anything. We can’t influence Him. We can’t make compromises with Him. We can’t buy God’s favour with good deeds or right behaviour. And we can’t earn a place in God’s household.

Honour God. Thank Him. Rejoice in His name. Trust His guidance. Do the best that you can every moment of your life. But don’t try to bargain with Him. God is so much greater than that.

What might be the things that lead you to attempt to make bargains with God?

Best Friends

I’d like to tell you about a girl I’ll call Cathleen. I knew her in primary school when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I saw her as a friend and we hung out together in her group.

She was the alpha. She was tall. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back in a golden shimmer. All the boys liked her so she learned early in her young life how to wield her power. I was short and all my friends told me I was ugly. I didn’t have Cathleen’s confidence. I think she only tolerated me because her best friend, Rachael, was also my best friend.

Then one day I did something wrong. I have no idea what it was. Perhaps I finally stood up to Cathleen’s continuous put-downs. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. By the end of the week the entire school was against me.

My best friend didn’t want to get involved. She didn’t want to get caught up in a tug-o-war. I didn’t blame her - much. I knew if she tried to defend me she’d also get torn to shreds. She did offer what she could and I took that small offering because I had nothing.

Years later I realised that it was Rachael who influenced me the most. Her friendship had made the difference. It was the life-line that made it possible to bear all the hate.

Rachael’s friendship is the kind we offer God. It’s weak, it doesn’t always stand its ground against hardship and we often try to keep one foot in our old ways and the other in our new. But God doesn’t judge what we can give. He accepts it with His arms out wide.

He will always be there for us. He will always be the friend we need, even when we struggle to be a friend in return.

Did you ever suffer from bullying at school? What got you through? How is God the perfect friend to you?