Happy Birthday

I love birthdays, so I try to personally wish a happy birthday to all of my family members and friends who are celebrating. Growing up, birthdays were always special in our household. My sister and I had parties with lots of presents, food, family, and friends. Consequently, we also had lots of fun. Now, my husband and I try to make birthdays special for our sons, too. However, we do not just celebrate their natural births. We also celebrate their born-again, or rather, Christian birthdays.
 
From my perspective, a person's spiritual rebirth is more important than the day of their natural birth. We are born into this world only to die, but when we are reborn in the Spirit, we receive the gift of eternal life. Consequently, we who believe should take the task of ushering unbelievers into the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, very, very seriously and endeavor to be about the Father's work. But what does any of this have to do with health and fitness?
 
The obesity epidemic affects the Christian community as well as unbelievers in the affluent parts of the world. Although Christians should know better than to become entangled with the sin of gluttony and repent from it as soon as they realize they have been led away by sin, most Christians are unaware that their weight loss issue stems from sin running unchecked in their lives.  It’s the same for those who suffer from eating disorders. They do not know that by intentionally starving themselves or bingeing and purging, they are disobeying God’s commands to take care of their bodies, which are the temples of the Holy Spirit, by eating and drinking for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 10:31).
 
If Christians are ignorant about the subject, how can they preach salvation through Christ to the unbelieving gluttons, anorexics, and bulimics of the world? How can the glutton, the anorexic, or bulimic hear the good news of salvation without a preacher (Romans 10:14)? It is not God's will that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), yet unbelievers die in their sins every day from strokes, heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, and other obesity related diseases because they never understood the need for Christ in their lives. It is the same for those who die from complications stemming from eating disorders. A person's bondage to gluttony or any other eating dysfunction may be the only way they come to realize they are helpless, powerless, and totally dependent upon God to set them free from sin.
 
Consequently, the Church is doing believers and unbelievers alike an injustice by not teaching that Christ is the key to freedom from obesity and eating disorders. Likewise, believers are condemning a multitude of people to hell by withholding the fact that salvation through Christ is the answer to the unbelieving glutton's obesity problem or the anorexic’s eating disorder. The angels in heaven celebrate when a newborn Christian is added to the family of faith just as we rejoice over a child's birth in the natural realm (Luke 15:7). Let's give the angels cause to celebrate!
 
Judgment starts at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17), so let us repent, discipline our bodies, and bring them under subjection first. Then we will not be disqualified when we share our faith with the unbelieving gluttons, bulimics, and anorexics (1 Corinthians 9:17). As we who have been washed in the blood of the lamb (Revelation 7:14) obey God's command to make more disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), we can celebrate with the angels over the lives saved in the natural realm and the rebirths in the spirit world.  Become a spiritual midwife and help a baby Christian enter a brand new life in the Promised Land of Healthy and Fit for Life. Then celebrate their new birth just as you would a child born in the natural realm! Instead of waiting for January to scream Happy New Year as they endeavor to make good on another resolution to get healthy and fit, you’ll be able to say Happy New You to spiritual newborns all year long!
 
If you are ready to be spiritually reborn to an abundantly new healthy and fit life, purchase your copies of the Eating as an Act of Worship Workbook and the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition online today at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com.  In the books, you will learn the biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God.  Read our weekly blog for motivation to stay healthy and fit through Christ.  Follow us daily on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for recipes, and diet and exercise tips.  Tune in to our syndicated radio show on iTunes, Spotify the DFW Den Radio Station, the StudioW Buzz Radio Station, and Victory KVDW 100.9 FM, 95.3 FM, and 1530 AM in Little Rock, Arkansas for interviews and health and fitness trends.  Lastly, make your tax-deductible donation to Eating as an Act of Worship Ministries at www.eatingasanactofworshipministries.org!