Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Instruments not Ornaments Part 2


Now that I think about it, I should have switched the pictures...you'll get it once I explain it! 

   So, in summary: we left off seeing that viewing physical fitness simply as how we look and feel is fairly shallow and doesn't get us (me) very far. I also told the story about Gary Thomas taking care of the folder because it wasn't his and how different things would be if we did the same with our bodies.

   Now, how SHOULD we look at physical fitness if not by how it affects how we look and feel? What other way is there to look at it? Well...by how it affects our soul, of course! Hm...I guess that's not so self explanatory.

   Okay, let me explain it this say. 
   Saying no when you don't need to eat something builds discipline to be able to say no to other kinds of temptations; stopping eating at a certain point does away with gluttony; initiating healthy eating builds a desire to initiate other healthy things even so far as to say, ministry!
   When you give up working out and eating healthy, chances are you're giving up on other areas of discipline also.

   The truth is, having an active lifestyle will allow you to serve God stronger and harder for a longer period of time. Like I mentioned in part 1, you could be as thin as a rail but that doesn't go hand in hand with being fit. If you tire out easily, feel lethargic often, have frequent 'lazy days', don't be deceived that these are only affecting your fitness level, they will also affect your passion to serve God. 
   Of course, there's nothing wrong with chilling out and relaxing. In fact God commands us to have a rest day. Genesis 2:3 says, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Note the bolded portion; in order to rest, you have to have something you're resting from. There has to be previous work done in order to merit a rest. Otherwise it's not resting. It's laziness. 

   If you haven't figured out where the 'instruments not ornaments' phrase came from by now, in a nutshell it's this:
   Ornaments are beautiful, above is one like what my mom made for all the boys in our family this Christmas, 'melted snowman' (the girls got cupcakes- SUPER cute!). Truth is, though, they hang and look nice. That's it. And even the phrase 'look nice' is subjective to opinion. Maybe, someone wouldn't like a cupcake or a melted snowman. Ornaments and decorations are subject to personal taste and everyone's differs.
   Now an instrument usually does look pretty cool to. My husband got me a violin for Christmas and I think it's the classiest looking thing! But it has a USE, it plays some pretty beautiful music. (I don't...yet...but it is capable of doing so, if placed in the right hands!)
   So, I acts ya: Would you rather be an ornament, pretty but useless; or an instrument, when placed in the Creator's hands, made to do something absolutely beautiful?

   Do not focus on wanting to look and feel good about yourself. In and of itself, these are NOT bad things at all...we should want to look and feel our best but it is the reasoning behind it that is important. Actually, this ties in to the whole reason I started this blog. If our reasoning is vanity, this is wrong. But what if wanting to feel and look our best was because, every day, we woke up and said, "What gives me the most energy to be used by God, today?" Now that, is very good.

   
    

4 comments:

  1. Awesome Britney !!! Very inspirational ... That is what I want to be fit & healthy, to be better equipped to be used by HIM!! :) (oh & loved the melting snowman ur mom made.. I would love to see the cupcake one sounds super cute!!)

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  2. This (and the prior post) were incredible! I'm so glad you posted this. There have definitely been times in which I want to lose weight for vanity's sake, and I don't stick with it. I just don't care. But when I'm motivated to work out because I genuinely enjoy it (pretty much just jogging at this point), I stick with it, I tend to lose weight without noticing, and I feel better about myself in general...something about endorphins, I'm sure! Haha! It's so great that you brought in the spiritual perspective. I will definitely keep that in mind :)

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  3. Best post(s) yet Brittney! Like Leslie said, Its so cool to see this topic in a spiritual perspective (Especially when we live in a world that is obsessed with the visual perspective)Very encouraging to be healthy!

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  4. Love this! I just boarded the healthy train on Monday, Haha. (Insanity and healthy/organic eating) My body hurts and I'm tired. But I feel great knowing my body is being treated better. I remember my diet when I had cancer and its crazy how your body reacts to NATURAL foods. It was at that time I really got a revelation about how God provides for us. God really has provided everything we need (food)! It's like, in our fleshly desire to take things God gave us, turn it into something, and THEN call it good! Not the way its supposed to be at all!

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