Eating Too Much?

Scriptures: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

Last weekend, a group of brothers and sisters came to my house for fellowship. They were from several groups in my church, some from our English ministry, some our senior ministries, and others from young adult ministries. We got together to sing, praise, pray and share what God has been doing in our midst in the year past. The youngest one that night was 16 years old and the oldest one was probably older than 80. But age did not seem to matter, nor was the language barrier, because the joy and the love of God was there to bring everyone together as one.

As a matter of fact, the liveliness of the younger generations made everyone seemed younger, too. At one time, those young adults started singing with someone playing piano and guitar. The songs they sang were so inviting that everyone, old and young alike, joined them. They went back and forth singing songs in Taiwanese and in English, old hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs. Then some of them started to sing with sign languages and some started to dance to the songs and the uplifting spirit seemed to fill the entire room.

One of the most memorable parts of that evening was the dinner time, with the food they brought to share. Out of their love and generosity, the food they brought that night was amazing too, both qualitatively and quantitatively. At the end of that evening, we had to request that everyone bring some food home. Even then, there were still lots of leftovers. I think we were more stuffed than the turkey we had that night!

Now that the meeting was over, with all the wonderful food in us, we need workouts to get all extra weight we gained over the weekend off. I heard a brother commenting that, after Thanksgiving dinners, the readings of his height (in cm) and his weight (in lbs.) are the same now. As much as we are thankful for the abundance of blessings, it is also true that if we don’t work out, all these wonderful food we enjoyed so much then could become unneeded and unhealthy burdens for us later. Many health problems are results of over-eating and life-styles that do not have an element of regular workouts.

In many ways, I think our spiritual health works the same way. For a nominal church-goer, if faithfully attending Sunday services, he/she would have at least listened to 52 messages a year. I am sure every preacher would do their best to pack the messages that can both uplift the spirits of the congregation and train them for good works. Yet, how many of us actually put the messages from our pastors / preachers to practice in life regularly and conscientiously?

Worse than that, I found many people, having heard the messages time and again, became insensitive to the implications and challenges in the messages received. Their response to the message would usually be, “Yea, I’ve heard of that before. There’s nothing new!” I feel so bad for people responding that way. For the preacher, it’s like a parent teaching his/her children about something important. The parent would try every possible means to repeat the lesson / points, hoping that the points would be ingrained in the minds and hearts of the children. But, if the child responded with, “I know!” but did nothing about it, it would really break the heart of the parent. I would really love to hear people say that, “Yes, I’ve done that. So, what’s next?”

All spiritual blessings, including the messages from the pulpit and from the sharing of brothers and sisters, are meant to equip and empower us to do the good work God has called us to. We need to pray for wisdom and empowerment from God that we can put them into practice so others may be blessed by them, too, for this is the good will of God.

For our health, obesity is not a desirable thing to have. This is true both physically and spiritually. The need for physical fitness is much easier to see, the scale and a host of home-use medical equipments can help us identify the problem and take appropriate actions. But the spiritual fitness is much harder to see. So, at this Thanksgiving, let’s resolve to keep our ears open with humble hearts so we can hear God’s messages and directions through His Spirit, His Word and His people. Let’s resolve to train our hands and legs agile so we may be quick to live and practice what’s been taught us; some weight lifting, carrying others’ burdens and sorrows; some running, to and fro places of those in need of cares and prayers; and some hiking that will take people in need of shelter to high places and refuges that our Lord provides. Let’s resolve to take part in any training programs our church offers to keep us fit, physically and spiritually, and to take us where our Lord wants us to be!

Prayer Requests:
For those who love to be an audience, but not a servant in the church

Prayer:

Father God, You are the source of all blessings. Thank You for the provisions, the protections, and the guidance You have for us out of Your riches. As we learn to give thanks for all the amazing things You are working in our lives, help us to come humbly before You to ask for empowerment to help us to live and to share Your riches with others through words and through deeds. Help us to become faithful examples of Your love and Your grace so our Lord Jesus can be exalted in our lives for we pray in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus, Amen!