Since becoming your pastor some eighteen months ago, I have definitely grown. In more ways than not, this growth has been much needed and gratefully received. For instance, I have grown in my capacity to love people. In addition, I have rejoiced in the growth Father has brought to my Bible study and my prayer life. I have also marveled at the opportunities He has provided me to lead people to Christ, though I have not been as faithful as I would like to seize each moment.
Some of my growth has been unexpected and, though needful, not particularly welcome when it began. For example, with the increase of my capacity to love people has come a commensurate amplification of heartache for people. I feel much more sharply than I can ever remember grief and anguish for other people when they lose loved ones, reap consequences of poor choices, or encounter the painful course life in these shadowlands affords.
I also miss people much more. On any given Sunday, when I see empty places once regularly occupied by one of our FBC family … well, it is very much akin to that first meal with my mom and siblings after Dad graduated to glory. It is as if a place remains at the table left vacant, but strangely filled with longing for someone dear to return.
I must admit, I have not always appreciated as quickly as I should the growth God brings to my sense of His greatness and my minuteness. Is it possible to grow in humility? Sounds ironic, but the truth is, while God has brought me to a place of much greater confidence in the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ, He has situated that place directly over the rubble of my own abandoned arrogance. This is good growth, but it is also more than humbling. It is often downright humiliating!
Indeed, in more ways than I can list here, I have grown since becoming your pastor in August 2006. At the end of each day, I am, for the most part, grateful for almost all the growth God has begun in me. One area of growth confronts me daily, however, about which I am not at all happy. Perhaps it is the most obvious growth to most of you (O wretched thought!). I have gained over 50 pounds in my brief tenure here! Yes, I have grown – over six inches in my waist alone!
This is not healthy growth. This growth threatens to shorten my lifespan and limit my effectiveness as a husband, father, and pastor. This growth must be arrested. Nay, more! This growth must be turned around.
This is not a new path for me. When I moved to
Donna convinced me we needed a life change if I hoped to see any grand kids someday. We got serious about lifestyle, diet, and exercise. Within a brief three months, I had lost so much weight that people across the state wondered if I had become gravely ill or something. Eventually, I weighed just below 197 pounds and was nearly ready to wear 34” pants for the first time since college! I stayed fit until … well, about August 2006.
So, here I am, eighteen months later, and beginning to experience the same health hazards I thought I had conquered once and for all. This week, at the wise and loving insistence of my wife, I have taken up once more the challenge to better health. I wonder to myself, “Can I get this right this time?” I also remember five keys I discovered three years ago related not only to healthy physical life, but also to productive spiritual growth. These are the reason I have brought you on this personal testimonial thus far (as well as an invitation for my church to hold their pastor accountable).
1. We need to see the problem. If we do not own or admit there is a problem, we are not likely to change. Until we are dissatisfied with the status quo, we do not even desire to change. Einstein has been credited with the witticism: “Insanity is to keep doing what you have always done and expecting different results.” Put another way, if we keep doing what we have been doing, we will keep getting what we have been getting. If I want to be healthier and more productive, then I must address and alter the behaviors that have made me unhealthy. If we want to grow closer to God’s design for us, then we need to change our life patterns to produce that end.
2. We need to set a plan. My fitness plan involves adjusting my schedule, my diet, and my routine. I have to rid myself of some things and add some new. What’s your plan for growth in Christ this year? This week?
3. We need stay on principles. A friend commenting on diet plans told me a few years ago, “Any plan will work if you work the plan.” That is only as true as the foundation you build upon. I don’t think a plan like “eat only Snickers bars” will work. But if I have a passion to work a plan that is built on solid, reliable, time-tested principles, then that plan may work if I work it. God has given us clear instructions about how we can grow in Christ. Our plan must cleave to His direction, His life principles – prayer, Bible study, Love God, love one another, love our neighbor, etc.
4. We need the support of partners. When I set out to lose weight several years ago, a number of colleagues from whom I expected support actually discouraged me, even made fun of my attempts. I had a strong network of friends and family, however, who believed in the principles, the plan, and me. They were my partners. They cheered me on when I was tired and ready to quit. They guarded my practices and my portions. They loved me enough to hold me accountable, and they celebrated each milestone with me as well. Sounds a lot like what I understand the biblical concept of body life to be. Who are the 3-10 friends with whom you are growing closer to Jesus right now?
5. We need to settle on perseverance. This is not the first time, and probably will not be the last, that I have had to make significant changes to my life if I am going to be everything I hope to be for God’s glory. In each new season of life adjustment, I have had to determine early on that I was in this to the end – through good days and bad days. This struggle will not disappear in this lifetime. I must decide to choose the road to health for the rest of my life. In the same way, we must resolve always to know Jesus Christ more intimately and to make Him known more intentionally.
To the ends of the earth until the end of time!
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