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.