Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Give yourself time to relax and decompress.”

A few months ago a group of us from our church spent a week in the Amazon Jungle at the El Arca children’s home. El Arca is a 110 acre ranch on the edge of the Rainforest in the southern Amazon basin in Peru. My friends Bud and Laura Lenz have been caring for children in Peru for twenty years.

El Arca provides a loving Christian home environment for orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk children (www.elarcafam.org). It is a great place, but life is hard at El Arca. Everyone is up before dawn Monday – Friday. Each person has chores to do and works for about an hour before breakfast is served. Then the children are off to school while the adults go to work in the hot tropical sun caring for crops, fixing fences, working on construction and repair projects, or a host of other jobs. At the end of the day there are more chores and homework. Then it is time for dinner followed by a little family time, and then bed. It is a long, hard work week for everyone.

Saturday is a Sabbath day. It’s a day of rest. Everyone sleeps late, has a special late breakfast, and then the day is spent playing games, hanging around, listening to music, talking and laughing, and special fun activities, but no work. Nothing. Everybody rests and has fun. Then Sunday is the day for worship services, personal Bible study, spiritual reading, and general quiet time with the Lord.

That is what resting and renewal should look like. That is a great balance between working, playing, and worshipping.

In his book, “The Christian at Play” author Robert Johnston poses the question, “Could it be that what is needed is an alternate attitude toward life … one that would allow work its rightful place while at the same time finding intrinsic value in leisure and play?”

Can all God’s people say “Amen”?

We need to get our balance back. In his ground-breaking study of the American worker entitled, “Working” Studs Terkel concluded, “Most of us … have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people.”

What he meant was that most of us seek significance and fulfillment from our work, while short-sheeting the rest of life. Work is important, but by itself work will never result in real and lasting fulfillment. For that we need good balance in life. We need to rest, relax, renew, and worship.

What are your plans for this weekend? I’m betting that your body needs a break. I’m thinking you need some real downtime to rest, relax, and have some fun. And you also need spiritual renewal. You need to be in church on Sunday.

I encourage you to get that balance back.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “How leisurely is your leisure time?

I’ve always enjoyed hiking. As a child our family home bordered a thick patch of woods. There were trails to follow, trees to climb, secret hide-a-ways, and lots of adventure. I spent many hours in those woods enjoying the peace and quiet and soaking in nature. I felt like I could encounter God in the beauty and quietness of His creation.

All throughout my adult years I have also enjoyed hiking. Sometimes it was long walks on the beaches of southern California; other times I have hiked the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee; several times I have been in the Andes Mountains of Peru and hiked the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

Today I live in a beautiful community in eastern Tennessee that is laced with great hiking trails, many of which are just minutes from my home. Most of those trails cut through deep woods and lead you to foot bridges over rushing creeks, great mountaintop views, and encounters with various kinds of wildlife. Being out there is soothing and relaxing, but it is also good exercise, and it can be a great time with God. It is Psalm 23:1-3 experienced in real life.

And I need it. Like many of you, I work too hard, worry too much, and don’t rest enough.

In his book, “The Christian at Play”, author Robert Johnston asks, “How leisurely is your leisure time?” He then quotes researcher Gordon Dahl, “In truth, for millions of Americans – hard-working Americans – leisure has come to mean little more than an ever more furious orgy of consumption. Whatever energies are left after working are spent in pursuing pleasure with the help of an endless array of goods and services. This is “virtuous materialism” par excellence. It offers men the choice of either working themselves to death or consuming themselves to death – or both.”

So, how leisurely is your leisure? Really, how restful is it? When you rest and relax are you really resting and relaxing? Psalm 23:1-3 describes getting away from it all so that we really are resting, relaxing, and renewing. Filling all of our leisure time with noise and activities and mindless entertainment often isn’t really all that leisurely.

As we approach the weekend I encourage you to consider planning some time to truly rest, relax, and reflect. Movies, parties, family activities, sporting events, and activities like that all have their place and are all good in some respects, but true relaxing and renewal occurs in the quiet times.

Again, “How leisurely is your leisure time?”

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.” Zechariah 8:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Make time for play.”

There’s a commercial from an insurance company that is sometimes on television. It features a camel walking through an office where lots of employees are hard at work. The camel seems to have a smile on his face and in a cheerful voice he says, “Hey, hey, hey, does anybody know what day this is? Come on! Somebody say it! It’s “hump” day!!!”

The scene makes an obvious reference to the fact that all these hard working people are looking forward to the weekend when they can stop working and instead play and rest. It’s a funny commercial and it makes a good point. Resting and playing is an important part of taking care of ourselves. It’s also something many of us don’t do enough of. Many of us work 50, 55, 60 hours a week, and then we fill-up our off time with household chores, errands, and doing things for others. Most of us don’t rest and play enough.

As part of the theology of health that is found in the Bible and which we have been exploring this month, God provides lots of scenes of His people resting, playing, feasting, and celebrating. In Zechariah 8:5 the prophet depicts a time after the second coming of Christ when boys and girls are laughing and giggling, just having fun playing in the streets of Jerusalem. It would be good for us to do a little more laughing and giggling and playing too.

In his book “The Christian at play” Robert Johnson writes, “The Christian is called to work; but he is also meant to play.” He then went on to write an entire book about the need we have, and the permission we receive from God, to play. Playing is a form of resting in that it helps us to forget the cares and burdens of life, and it also helps to release built-up stress.

Playing is also often a form of exercise. I have a friend who will sometimes call me and say, “Let’s go out and play”, and then we will go hiking, or kayaking, or motorcycle riding. Doing so is fun, relaxing, renewing, and it is also Biblical. (Okay maybe hiking, kayaking, and motorcycle riding aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, but they should be. And anyway, the concept is sound. Playing is good for us.)

As our friend the camel reminded us in the insurance commercial, today is hump day. The weekend is coming. I hope you are planning some time for rest and play.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to one’s whole body.” Proverbs 4:20-22 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Develop a theology of health”

In his book, “The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life” Pastor Rick Warren writes, “The Christian family I grew up in attended church services every week. I have listened to thousands of sermons on what God has to say about our souls, our minds, our wills, and our emotions. But not once had I heard an entire sermon on God’s view of our bodies. The subject was completely ignored. This is why most people still have no theology of health.”

A “theology” is a system of organized thought on matters of faith. In the Bible God has given us such theologies, or systems of organized thoughts, on many matters of faith and life. The Bible provides us with a complete theology on subjects such as salvation, stewardship, marriage and family life, end times, heaven and eternity, and much more. It also provides us with a full theology on the subject of healthy living.

That’s essentially what we have been exploring all this month through this series of devotional messages – we have been exploring the theology of health as given by God in the Bible.

However, in addition to just providing us with a systematized collection of organized thoughts about important subjects, a theology is intended by God to be action-oriented. What we learn should translate into how we act. For instance, more than just teaching us about stewardship, a theology of stewardship should lead us to actually be good stewards. Likewise, rather than just teaching us about being healthy, a theology of health should lead us to actually live a healthier lifestyle.

I encourage you to go back and review what we’ve already learned so far this month about taking care of our bodies. What changes have you made? What bad habits are you working to stop and what good habits are you working on developing? What are you doing with what you have learned?

In the Bible God has given us a complete theology for healthy living. We need to learn that theology, and then we need to actually put into practice what we have learned.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

Our thought for today: “Develop a positive mental image of yourself.”

In recent decades it has become fashionable for Christian speakers and writers to debunk what is known as “the power of positive thinking” or the “self-help” movement – as if there is no value in thinking positively, and as if we are not capable of helping ourselves.

Nonsense. Not only is it imperative that we be optimistic and train ourselves to think positive thoughts, but we must also be proactive and intentional as we take responsibility for resolving our own issues and doing the things necessary to be the best person we can be. There is great power in positive thinking, and there is a lot we can do in terms of “self-help.”

This is Biblical. Yesterday we read Paul’s words of encouragement and exhortation in Philippians 4:8 about how we must train our mind to think right. Today we are considering Solomon’s great insight in Proverbs 23:7 which says how we think about things goes a long way towards determining how things actually turn out for us.

In 1903 philosopher and inspirational writer James Allen released his classic little book “As a Man Thinketh”. Here is some of what he wrote, “As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have happened without them.”… “Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.”… “The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought. … “Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” And, “Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life.”

In 1952 Pastor and author Dr. Norman Vincent Peale published his book “The Power of Positive Thinking”. It built on Allen’s work but went into great detail explaining how a Christian man or woman could apply those principles in his or her life. It is still a good and helpful read today.

In 1993 Dr. James Loehr released his book “Toughness Training for Life”. In it he explained how Olympic and professional athletes use the techniques of positive mental imaging to achieve peak physical conditioning and winning professional performance.

My point in all of this is that how you think about yourself matters. The mental image you have of yourself goes a long way towards determining your actual physical condition. So regardless of who you are, no matter how old you are or what your current physical condition is, I encourage you to develop a mental image of yourself as you would like to be at this time in your life. Be sensible and realistic. Simply imagine yourself with the health you would like to have and the physical condition you would like to be in. Then hold onto that image and use it to motivate yourself as you take the steps and implement the disciplines needed in order to move you closer to that ideal “you” at this stage of life.

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” It’s true. So develop a positive mental image of yourself and then do the things needed to achieve it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.” 3 John 1:2

Our thought for today: “Work to achieve a good balance in your life.”

So far in this series we have considered at length why we must take good care of the body the Lord has given us. It is a gift from Him and it is to be used in His service. Also, your body is the temple of God’s Holy Spirit and it must therefore be treated as such. And also, the healthier you are the better your overall quality of life will be.

We have also considered the truth that God created each of us as a complex being that consists of body, spirit, mind, and emotions and that all of those parts of us are interconnected and each impacts the other. Therefore it’s important to care for the whole person, and doing that will require a life that is balanced in all of those important areas.

But often we pay too much attention to one area, and not enough to another. Some people put a lot of time and effort into keeping their physical body fit and healthy, but they don’t pray, read their Bible, or come to church very often. Other people are disciplined in their spiritual life but pay little attention to what they eat and they get no exercise. Some people make little effort to care for themselves at all, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually, and their lives are really a mess.

A healthy person is a balanced person. In their great little book, “The Life of the Body: Physical well-being and spiritual formation” Valerie Hess and Lane Arnold write, “The definition of “wholeness” includes being fully integrated as a human being, body, mind and spirit; therefore, physical health and spiritual formation are closely related.” They go on, “When I take care of my body, with good food and an active lifestyle, I can tell the difference in other parts of my life. When I am more mentally alert, more joyful, and well rested, I can see the difference in so many other areas of life.”

The truth is that discipline in one area of life carries over into other areas of life in significant ways, but that always requires some kind of intentional action on our part. Sometimes we spend too much time praying about our problems and not enough time doing something about our problems. Striving for better balance in life, and actually making an effort to do the things necessary to be healthier in our body, mind, spirit, and emotions, will go a long way towards cleaning up much of what we struggle with in life.

Tomorrow we will think about the life of the mind, the impact it has on the whole person (including your body), and some things we can do to have better control over it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.” 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your work should improve your life not diminish it.”

I know a young man who has decided to be a barber. He has a winsome personality, he loves people, and he has a passion for cutting hair. So he is going to be a barber. He is also a talented musician and singer, and he is very smart. He is the kind of young person who would excel at whatever profession he chose, and he knows he could make more money doing something else, but he has chosen to do what he loves. Good for him.

I know another young man who is also a talented singer, songwriter, and guitar player. He is also a writer, an artist, and an actor. He too is very smart and would easily excel in whatever field he chooses. But he has decided to be a welder. He chose that field first of all because he likes it, but secondly because he knows it is honest labor that will provide him with a decent income, and it will still afford him plenty of time in his life to pursue his various creative interests in his spare time.

Both of those young men have chosen quality of life over the pursuit of high incomes and lots of possessions. Unlike the man I told you about yesterday, the one who spent his life chasing riches and in the process lost his family and his health, these young men have set themselves up for living balanced lives that are rich in the things that really matter.

I don’t mean to suggest there is anything wrong with pursuing higher education (I have four college degrees); nor am I saying that we should not aspire to a career in the professional ranks such as medical doctor, attorney, business owner, or even as a pastor. The point of these two devotional messages taken together (yesterday and today) is that whatever we do for a living, we need to be sure it does not consume us and get our lives out of balance. Quality of life is more important than quantity of wealth and possessions.

If you are already trapped in a job that is eating you up and causing your life to be out of balance, I recommend you read the book, “Half-time: Moving from Success to Significance” by Bob Buford. It’s all about how to make a mid-life course correction that will help to greatly improve the quality of your life.

The picture Paul paints for us in 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 is of a person who is living a quiet and content life that includes honest labor that provides for him and his family, and it is a life that others would deem honorable and well-lived.

That’s a pretty good life.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop! As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.” Proverbs 23:4-5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Avoid overworking”

I read a sad story once about a very wealthy man who was only in his sixties but he was dying. This man had worked extremely hard and had achieved great success in his business, and he had the wealth and possessions to show for it. But as he lay there close to death, thinking back over his life, he wasn’t proud or happy or satisfied. Instead he was remorseful and grieved.

It seems that this man had been a compulsive workaholic his entire life. He had thrown himself into his business pursuits, and he routinely spent 70, 80, 90 hours a week either in the office or traveling for business purposes. Even when he wasn’t actually at work, he was thinking about it, planning for it, making phone calls, etc. In the process he suffered through three divorces and ended up estranged from all six of his children. He had grandchildren that he had never even met.

To compensate for the excessive stress and strain of working so hard, and for the severe emotional pain from all those broken relationships, he indulged himself in every conceivable luxury, including high-end prostitutes and the richest of foods. So now, only in his sixties, he had lost his health and was about to die. All of his great riches could not give him his health back or restore his broken relationships. He had spent his entire life overworking, and although he earned a lot of money and had a lot of expensive possessions, he had sacrificed the truly precious things in his life.

The Japanese have a word for this, it’s “Karoshi”. Karoshi means, “Death from overworking”. The reason they have this word in their vocabulary is because death from overworking is an epidemic in their society. Newspapers in Japan have almost daily reports about citizens who worked themselves to death, or who were so stressed from their work that they committed suicide. Overworking, karoshi, is literally killing them.

It’s killing some of us too. Some of you reading this work way too many hours under way too much stress. And it’s killing you. It’s killing you physically, it’s killing your relationships, and it’s robbing you of the things in life that are truly valuable.

And it’s not worth it.

When it comes to taking care of yourself by achieving a healthy balance in life, sometimes we need to stop working so much so we can pay a little more attention to the other areas of our lives. We will talk more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: