Faith Fitness 4: Watch Your Diet
1 Peter 2:1-3
Getting our Faith Fit won't happen by itself - we are going to have to put our lifetime of effort into it. Just like with our physical bodies - appropriate action must be taken.
*Today we're going to focus on that four letter word DIET. Nobody likes to adjust their manner of eating - but it is an essential part of fitness.
*Diets can make you grumpy!
A grouchy husband came to breakfast. His wife had prepared two eggs - one fried and one scrambled. He said, "Yep, just like I thought, you’ve done it again." "Now what’s wrong?" she asked. He replied, "As usual, you fried the wrong egg."
I try not to let that happen. Every time I get the urge to exercise, I lie down till the feeling passes.
To get a Fit Faith we have to make big adjustments to our spiritual diet!
DIETS MAKE YOU GET RID OF THE BAD STUFF! (1 Peter 2:1)
Things that destroy your spiritual health.
Malice - the desire to injure others. All of the Apostles and many of the first Christians faced this from others.
Deceit - trickery of a person who is out to deceive others to attain his own desires. When we are spinning lies, we are killing our own spiritual life.
Hypocrisy – a person who is always acting a part and concealing his real motives… his Christianity is for his own profit and prestige, not for the service and glory of Christ. No one can grow spiritually while only pretending.
Envy - Spiteful jealously. This is more than wishing you had what someone else has… It is desiring hurt or harm to come to that person. Focus on things will kill our interest in spiritual life.
Slander - means evil-speaking, and is almost always the fruit of envy in the heart and usually takes place when its victim is not there to defend himself. We cannot grow spiritually alone, we need each other.
These things will give you a heart attack!(Mark 7:20-23) The real issue is a heart issue.
2. DIETS MAKE YOU FOCUS ON THE GOOD STUFF! (1 Peter 2:2)
Crave It! Crave - To long for with a keen appetite and uneasiness; to have a vehement, vigorous, passionate, and intense desire. It is a heart issue. Psalms 42:1-2. How does a person show that they crave the good stuff of God's word?
-Read the Word.
-Study the Word.
-Meditate on the Word (Joshua 1:8)
-Believe in the Word (Romans 1:16)
-Live and Do the Word (James 1:22)
2 Timothy 2:15 / Ephesians 4:15
Conclusion
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Psalms 34:8
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