Lesson

Spiritual Health

 

Counterfeit gods

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

 

The first commandment God gave us in Exodus was to have no other gods. When you first heard this commandment, you probably thought, “No problem with this commandment; it’s not like I am making a gold calf and worshipping it.” But let me ask it this way - is there anything in your life that you put before your relationship with God?

 

Are there days when I think I don’t have time to read my Bible or pray because I’m too busy? Sadly, it happens. Are there days that go by when I’ve been so focused on something that I completely forget to talk to God and ask for His guidance? Sadly, this happens too.

 

Do you ever turn to something or someone other than God when you need comfort? Do you turn to other things or people for joy? I am not saying we shouldn’t have people or things in our lives that help comfort us or bring us joy, but God wants us to be the one we turn to first. He knows He is the only way you will receive peace and joy that can’t be taken away.

 

Tim Keller, in his sermon called “Counterfeit Gods,” puts it this way: “A counterfeit god -- or an idol -- is anything more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning of life, and identity. An idol is anything you rest your heart in more than God or love more than God. Idols are not necessarily bad things, but they are things you look to to give you what only God can give you.” This puts a different spin on the idea of worshipping other gods.

 

In Deuteronomy 4:24, we are told that God is a jealous God. This verse can easily be misunderstood if you don’t really understand who God is. I remember hearing years back that Oprah said that this verse was one of the reasons she turned away from Christianity. She didn’t want to connect with a “jealous” God. I believe this verse in Deuteronomy and our commandment to have no other gods has nothing to do with God building himself up, but rather has everything to do with us. His jealousy is really all about His love for us.

 

God doesn’t want us to turn to other things over Him, and He is jealous of all of our love because of His amazing love for us. He knows our path to peace, purpose, and lasting joy can only be found when He is our everything; when we put Him alone on the throne.

 

Too often, we put the god of food in front of God. We want to be comforted so we turn to food instead of God. I have to say, I don’t like the term “comfort food,” and I have to think it saddens God when we turn to food for comfort instead of Him. I picture our loving Father in heaven, holding out His arms to us, saying, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. I alone can give you the comfort you need right now. Snuggle into my arms and tell me what’s troubling you. I created food to give your body the energy it needs. I never created it to comfort you. I am your Comforter.”

 

When was the last time you ate something that brought you lasting comfort and peace? When was the last time you ate a hot fudge sundae, and it took away all your worries and sadness? It doesn’t work. Food will never be able to do what God alone can do. Please stay here a moment and let this sink in.

 

As I was reading an awesome book called “Gods at War” by Kyle Edelman, I came across this poem:

 

Jesus My Portion

The god of food promised us a feast, but we came up empty.

He invited us to consume until it consumed our lives. We tasted everything, until nothing had taste anymore.

And so finally we came to Jesus. We discovered that he offers the one true feast.

He fills our every need.

Every hunger ultimately leads back to him.

Jesus frees us from an abusive, dysfunctional relationship with food because he is our portion and in him we discover what we were searching for all along.

If we seek our joy and meaning in food, then the source of our joy always disappears and always must be found again - a consumable god.

It is different from Jesus.

Nothing tastes better than the joy and satisfaction of knowing Christ.

Nothing nourishes the soul as he does.

Nothing feeds and strengthens and renews us like the time we spend with him each day.

If this poem touches your heart, as it did mine, print it out. Put it on your fridge, on your mirror, or next to your pillow. Let it remind you of God’s open arms, ready to pull you in and give you what you need.

   

Physical Health

 

Time-Saving Tips

Probably the #1 reason people give for not eating healthy or exercising is “lack of time.” If you struggle to find time to eat healthy and exercise, keep reading!!

 

There are quite a few “Time-Saving Tips” I could share, but I want to focus on one top time-saving tip for cooking and one for exercising.

 

Time-Saving Tip for Cooking: Repurpose Food

Probably not what you were expecting me to say, but let me explain what I mean by this. When I cook something, I typically have several ways I will prepare it over the next few days.

 

Let me show you what this looks like:

Day 1

Dinner:

Grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, sautéed red peppers & onions, quinoa

Day 2

Breakfast:

Poached egg on top of diced broccoli & quinoa

Lunch:

Cold quinoa salad with diced chicken, cucumbers & red peppers, dressed with balsamic dressing

Dinner:

Enchiladas stuffed with chicken, peppers, and onions, salad dressed with cucumbers and balsamic vinaigrette

 

Here is how you can cook these meals in no time. On day 1, make enough chicken for dinner on day 1. Also for the quinoa salad and enchiladas on day 2. Steam extra broccoli and dice it up into small pieces for breakfast on day 2. Dice extra red peppers (but don’t cook them) for the quinoa salad. At dinner, make extra quinoa for breakfast and lunch on day 2. Sauté enough peppers and onions for dinner on day 1 and for the enchiladas on day 2. When you slice cucumbers for the quinoa salad, cut extra for your dinner salad that night. Make balsamic dressing for lunch and dinner. Head over to the food tab at www.faithfulworkouts.com and check out our other meal plans.

 

Do you see how this works? Here is another example:

 

Day 1

Dinner:

Pork tenderloin, baked apples, roasted potatoes, and sautéed zucchini

Day 2

Breakfast:

Pumpkin pancakes topped with baked apples

Lunch:

Pork lettuce wrap and potato salad (use leftover roasted potatoes) Dinner:

Pork, zucchini, and onion fried rice

 

To cook and eat this way takes planning, but if you invest some time into the planning, you will save so much time in the cooking, AND you won’t be tempted to stop for some fast food.

 

So often, we get into a rut when it comes to cooking. Think outside the box, plan out a few days’ meals, and get creative in how you repurpose the food you cook.

 

If you need to pack a lunch, it’s great to make extra meat and vegetables for dinner and then make a big salad topped with the extra meat and veggies from the night before. People who know me well make fun of me because I’m always talking about how I used my leftovers to make other meals. I often cut up my leftover meat and vegetables from dinner and scramble them with an egg or put a poached egg on top of them.

 

You can do this! If you just put in a little time and effort, you will discover that you do have time to eat healthy!!

 

Time-Saving Tip for Exercise: Multi-Muscle Exercises

 

We know that cardio, strength, core, balance, and flexibility exercises need to be included in our weekly exercise plan, but when we’re short on time, it’s hard to choose what to focus on. When I’m short on time and I want to try to give my body all it needs, I turn to multi-muscle exercises. Multi-muscle exercises are defined as “any exercise that engages two or more different joints to fully stimulate entire muscle groups and multiple muscles.”

 

You know the old saying, “Too much of a good thing can be bad”. This can be the case with multitasking, so I want to caution you as I write this. There are times when I get joy out of getting lots of things done efficiently. There’s a sort of “productivity buzz” I get. But if we overdo multitasking, it can cause stress and anxiety, and our effectiveness actually decreases.

 

I consider multi-muscle exercises to be the “good” kind of multitasking. As the name suggests, multi-muscle exercises utilize multiple muscle groups at the same time (such a creative name).

 

In our daily lives, we move in ways that require us to use multiple muscles together. Walking up the stairs while carrying groceries or laundry is an example of this. When we work out with multi-muscle moves, we are training our muscles to work together.

 

A great example of this type of exercise is a back-step lunge with a bicep curl. You are using your large leg muscles and your glutes while doing the lunge, and you are also using your bicep muscles to perform the curl. When you are doing this type of move, you are also required to engage your core muscles to keep your body in proper alignment. When you are using that many muscles at once, your heart will pump harder to get enough blood to all the muscles, which means you are also getting a cardio workout. Think about that: upper body, lower body, core, and cardio all during one exercise!

 

Other moves that are “multi-muscle” are any of the moves we do in a bent-over position. When we bend forward at our hips, our lower back and core muscles are required to work to safely keep us in this position. Once in the bent-over position, we can work other muscles like our rhomboids (upper back) or triceps (backside of arm). These exercises are classic multi-muscle moves.

 

When you work out using a step, you are obviously using your leg muscles when you step up and down. If you add a shoulder raise while stepping, it becomes a multi-muscle move. Again, you will feel your heart rate elevate because of the number of muscles you are engaging.

 

It is important to pay close attention to your form during the multi-muscle moves. If you are new to exercise, I don’t recommend multi-muscle exercises. It is important that you feel confident in the form of a single exercise before you do it at the same time as another exercise. If you do not feel confident doing a back-step lunge on its own, do not try adding a bicep curl to the movement.

 

It is also important to pay attention to your core muscles during multi-muscle moves. For instance, when doing bent-over tricep extensions, it’s easy to focus on your triceps and forget to keep your core tight. If you don’t draw in the core muscles, you risk injury to your lower back.

 

When you combine a variety of multi-muscle exercises in your workout, you can get an amazing workout in only 15 minutes. When doing multi-muscle exercises, enjoy the moment and know you are getting the most from your workout.

   

Health Assessment

 

There are many different areas of our life that influence our health. Often, when one is out of whack, it affects the others. Think of the last time you had a bad night's sleep. Wasn’t it tough to find the energy you needed? Didn’t it affect how you interacted with others? It’s important when we want to move towards better health that we think about ALL of these areas.

 

Take a moment to think about these areas of your life. Then write down a number from 1-10 that shows how you are doing in that area. If you feel that part of your health is perfect, then give it a #10. If you feel that an area is a huge struggle for you, then give it a #1.

Sleep:

Community:

Exercise:

Play/Relaxing:

Stress:

Water:

Nutrition:

Relationships:

Sugar:

  The following Journal Entry questions have to do with your responses to the above areas of life.