Diets Don't Work? Ridiculous!

Diets don't work. Supposedly a person is better off not dieting. Losing weight is not good for you.

The article link to above references a new study on diets. Apparently diets are worthless. This is ludicrous! The story about the research proves that diets do work. I suppose it depends on what your definition of diet is. But did you notice the real reason why diets supposedly fail? The real reason is hidden in this quote:

"Bleak as these figures seem, the true picture could be even worse, as it is thought that most people lie about their weight - and don't like to tell researchers that their weight has started to creep up again."

Why don't diets work? People, people, people. People lie. People lose motivation. People give up. People worship food.

Diets do work! A principle of effective dieting is eating less calories than you burn. This has always been true and will always be true. People lose weight because they eat less calories. All diets have this in common.

All diets are not calories restrictive however. A diet can be about eating more calories to gain weight, perhaps lean muscle mass.

Everyone is on a diet - to either lose weight or gain weight. The controlling factor is a person's inner motivations, the ruling desires of the heart. The key to healthy weight loss or weight gain is changing behavior and adapting new habits - changing the heart. It can be done. It happens everyday.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Between that moment this morning of stopping my alarm from blaring and moving my feet from underneath the warmth of flannel sheets to the floor I think...back to life, back to reality. It is time to get up and get on with it. Life is calling me to engage and get things done. Yesterday I celebrated Christ's Resurrection with family and friends. Today, it is Monday and I have much to do. Back to life, back to reality.

I got up (obviously.) It is 5:25 a.m. right now. Life really gets going for me in about 15 minutes when I put those 45 pounds plates on that flat bench-press bar over there and start my upper workout. Yesterday I thought of resurrection. This morning though, I began thinking too granular about life. I have already forgotten the magnitude of the meaning behind the resurrection of Christ.

Thankfully though my friend Seth blogged last night I read his entry just now. He linked to a message from John Piper called "Radical Effects of the Resurrection".

"This is a radical call for us to look hard at out present lives to see if they are shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Do we make decisions on the basis of gain in this world or gain in the next? Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?"

The whole simplified idea of this message is that the Resurrection of Christ impacts all of life...everyday. I know. I just needed to be reminded. But the impact is not what you'd expect. The resurrection is not about having a better life now, today. It is much greater than that and has more to do with suffering than my sinful heart prefers. But it is about true joy.

How do I make this thinking reality in my life? How do I stop the insanity and make this message my everyday life? When? How?

Here is the audio and here is the corresponding article. Like my friend Seth pleads...PLEASE LISTEN AND READ!

Changed for Eternity

"As we listen to eternity, we realize that the kingdom is about God radically changing people, but not in the self-absorbed sense our culture assumes. Christ came to break our allegiance to such an atrophied agenda and call us to the one goal worth living for. His kingdom is about the display of his glory and people who are holy. This is the change he came, lived, died, and rose to produce. This is the life and work he offers us in exchange for the temporary glories we would otherwise pursue. This kingdom agenda is intended to control our hearts and transform our lives."

From Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, page 5.

Change that matters is possible because the King has come.

The Overlooked More Important Piece of Repentance

My mind has been focused on change lately. Because, I don't want to get to the end of my life and conclude that I wasted it. I want to look back and see tangible evidence that I invested everything I could into pursuing Christ's reign in all of life over all the earth for God's glory. I believe I've been veering off course. I need to change. I need to keep changing. The gospel demands it.

So what should I do?

Go back to the basics and review.

God's providence has lead me to focus on a specific bible verse - Mark 1:15. I am amazed at the pinpoint precision of Jesus' first words as he began his public ministry. He said in Mark 1:15, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.". Jesus' announcement seems to be about the current state of the union - the kingdom of God. Jesus' words seem to give context to the meaning of life and human existence. He seems to be bringing the whole Old Testament to one single point in time and presenting the people a command. Now that He has arrived the command is "to repent, and believe in the gospel."

The Overlooked Piece of Repentance

The command from Mark 1:15 is to repent. I checked several dictionaries (English and Bible.) I also asked some family and friends to get their perspective. The general meaning of repentance is to turn away from sin and turn back to God. Fair enough. I would have said the same thing. But all these definitions along with the present age of psychological focus on feelings and behavior modification seem to greatly blur, if not dismiss, the original meaning of biblical repentance.

I need to know the real meaning of this word, repent, in Mark 1:15. Bare with me, I need to look to the original Greek language. The transliterated word from the original Greek in Mark 1:15 is Metanoeo. It means to change one's mind. I have to admit in the past I tended to focus on feeling sorry for my sins. I focused on feeling differently. Often this caused me to wait on a feeling before I made changes, because if I didn't "feel it", then I wasn't really repenting. This is twisted thinking. Not biblical.

Repentance begins with changing the mind. First, thinking differently. Focusing my thoughts on God and reexamining everything in my life. Feelings are irrelevant in the initial workings of repentance. Feelings flow out of thoughts.

All this matters to to me because it involves action. I want to have an active faith. I want to actively engage with Jesus everyday in everything. I may have oversimplified biblical repentance. But changing my mind about every situation I encounter every day is where repentance starts. Thinking is something I can do and it is not passive like waiting around for feelings. Thinking differently is the overlooked more important piece of biblical repentance.

Protection

Man am I desperate for blog material or what?

I played baseball and hockey when I was a yout. Both sports called for protection of the male anatomy.

Unfortunately I did not learn the supreme value of an athletic cup protector until that one day I played in the catcher position during practice. As I squatted down to receive the first pitch I realized I forgot to wear my cup. I was age 10 or so. After the batter missed with a strike I felt the intense pain of getting nailed in the nads with a 60 mph pitch from a pitching machine. I still gag at the memory.

On many occasions as well during my illustrious hockey career (I was so good I could have made it to state) I took slap shots, wrist shots, elbows, stick pokes straight to the sensitive area. It was part of the game. I knew also how to equally deliver the tactical blows to my opponents. It was part of my game plan.

But ya'know? The protective cups never really stopped the blows from really hurting. There was still a lot of pain from the pressure of the blows and a lot of bruising where the cup rest against the groin area.

Sounds like I could have used one of these. Here is the promo video:



The guy actually does flinch though.