Just in case you have lingering doubt about your current lot in life, there are some surefire ways to determine whether or not you can still call yourself a young person or if you have officially crossed over into non-cool adulthood. While the characteristics aren’t quite scientific, they are pretty close.
If you have a Sam’s Club membership in your own name, bring actual food to potlucks instead of 2 liters of soda, have a fully insured car that gets good gas mileage, get household appliances for your birthday, go to bed before 11, regularly wake up with a stiff back, ever roll your eyes when you hear someone next to you with too much bass in the car, or if you are still trying to figure out what “swag” means, you too are now an official old fart - welcome to the club. Or as the young folks would say, “da club.”
In my recently discovered oldness, I also realized that my motivation for losing weight is no longer to look hot, fit into $100 jeans, or to feel like I fit in more with the popular kids. I’ve realized that I think a lot more about lowering my blood pressure, avoiding diabetes, not being afraid of going into full blown cardiac arrest every time I take a flight of stairs, and to ensuring that I am able to watch my boys become men, husbands, and fathers.
I have finally come to a place where I am aware of my mortality. I realize that I am not going to live forever and what I do has a direct impact on how long I will be alive. And while sometimes I admit that I long to not have to deal with the sadness and drama in this life, I am not interested in leaving it prematurely. If Jesus is preparing a place just for me, I want to make sure I don’t just pop in unannounced before it’s ready. Nobody likes a guest that comes too early.
And with as much worry and effort as we put into our physical health, I often try to ask myself if I am making it a bigger priority than my spiritual health. Because honestly, I can delay my death as much as I want but the truth is that it is going to happen someday. And when it does, even if I am a perfect size 8 with zero bad cholesterol and a heart like a runner, if my soul is sick it was worthless.
So with that being said, here are a few questions to help you in determining if your inside is as healthy as your outside.
Check your heart. Then get as motivated and pumped up to fix IT as you are to fix your love handles and double chin.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
“Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
If you have a Sam’s Club membership in your own name, bring actual food to potlucks instead of 2 liters of soda, have a fully insured car that gets good gas mileage, get household appliances for your birthday, go to bed before 11, regularly wake up with a stiff back, ever roll your eyes when you hear someone next to you with too much bass in the car, or if you are still trying to figure out what “swag” means, you too are now an official old fart - welcome to the club. Or as the young folks would say, “da club.”
In my recently discovered oldness, I also realized that my motivation for losing weight is no longer to look hot, fit into $100 jeans, or to feel like I fit in more with the popular kids. I’ve realized that I think a lot more about lowering my blood pressure, avoiding diabetes, not being afraid of going into full blown cardiac arrest every time I take a flight of stairs, and to ensuring that I am able to watch my boys become men, husbands, and fathers.
I have finally come to a place where I am aware of my mortality. I realize that I am not going to live forever and what I do has a direct impact on how long I will be alive. And while sometimes I admit that I long to not have to deal with the sadness and drama in this life, I am not interested in leaving it prematurely. If Jesus is preparing a place just for me, I want to make sure I don’t just pop in unannounced before it’s ready. Nobody likes a guest that comes too early.
And with as much worry and effort as we put into our physical health, I often try to ask myself if I am making it a bigger priority than my spiritual health. Because honestly, I can delay my death as much as I want but the truth is that it is going to happen someday. And when it does, even if I am a perfect size 8 with zero bad cholesterol and a heart like a runner, if my soul is sick it was worthless.
So with that being said, here are a few questions to help you in determining if your inside is as healthy as your outside.
- Which are you more vigilant about doing - counting your Weight Watcher points and calories or actively looking for ways to show God’s love to other people?
- Which makes you feel worse - going a day without exercise or going a day without prayer?
- Which do you monitor more closely - how much sugar is going in your body or how much filth is going into your mind?
- Are you as adamant that you or your children study the Bible every day as you are that school work is completed?
- Do sports take precedent over meeting with your church?
- Are you a passionate and vocal supporter of no carbs, no high fructose corn syrup, no hormones, and no immunizations but silent and passive when it comes to sharing the gospel?
- Is our physical health important? Yes it is. God gave us our bodies as a vessel to house our true selves - our souls. We should take care of that house as best as we can. But what good is a nice house if on the inside, everything is decaying and rotten?
Check your heart. Then get as motivated and pumped up to fix IT as you are to fix your love handles and double chin.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
“Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
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