Losing Too Fast/Setting Christians Up for Failure

So I just completed my third week of Weight Watcher's for Men. I have lost 8.6 pounds in the 3 weeks that I have been following what they call the "Lifestyle Change." For those unfamiliar with Weight Watcher's, they do not suggest using it as a temporary diet, but instead as a new way of eating for life. You permanently change the way that you eat. For the unschooled let me explain how Weight Watchers works.

Weight Watcher's has a point system that you follow. You are given a set number of points to use each day that is based on your sex, age, weight and height. You are then given 49 cheat points a week for splurges. If you exercise then you are also given extra points daily for the completion of your physical activity. As you lose weight each week (if you weigh a lot over your ideal weight like I do you have a lot of points daily to begin with), you have points taken away based on how much weight you have lost.

This week, there was a warning given to me that I am losing weight too fast. It stated that losing 1-2 pounds a week is safe, but that losing more than 2 pounds a week consistently is considered to be unhealthy. I thought that was a fair warning. I need to be aware of not losing weight too fast as it may be unhealthy. I can live with that warning. Then I went to my points for the day to log in what I had eaten for breakfast and I had lost a point each day due to losing the weight that I did. So I was told that I was losing weight too fast, then the amount of food that I can intake daily was reduced???? How do you lose weight slower by eating less food?

Those sound like completely contradictory things, or what I call mutually exclusive goals. They are not congruent to accomplishing the same thing. That does not make sense to me. I have been set-up to fail. Why would you tell me that something is dangerous for me then insure that I do the exact thing that you are warning me about? As I thought on this, modern day Christianity came to mind. Some of the authors whose books I have read recently came to mind. We shall review those books by name in later blogs.

The things that are confusing are the commandments and requirements for Christians to live by that are found in the Bible. They are being subverted by people claiming to follow God. It is actually sad to see how sick some of the churches here in America have gotten. It may be that way every where, but I have only been to churches in the United States. I see the way that people take parts of the Bible and use them out of context so that it makes Christianity more user friendly, instead of taking the Bible in its entirety and following what it truly says. Following are 2 prime examples of what I mean:

1. Once Saved, Always Saved - This is repeatedly tossed around. It says that once you are saved, there is really no reason to live a sanctified life. To do so is a form of trying to earn salvation. They say that if someone subverts, than they were never truly in a relationship with God. Yet the Bible warns against this numerous times, and even says that we can fall out of relationship with God. In 2 Timothy 2:12 it states, "if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us." You have to be in a relationship with someone in order to disown them. Or how about Matthew 7:21-23 that says that there will be those who have given prophesy and who have healed and driven out demons in Christ's name. Sounds like someone who operates with God's authority. Yet Jesus states that He will tell to get away from Him. Driving out demons and healing would seem sure ways to tell if someone is in relationship with God, yet they will not be in His heavenly kingdom.

2. Grace - Next is the grace card that so many pastors and authors speak about. They mislead millions by saying that since God is a God of grace, it should reason that it is okay to sin. Often Romans 5 is used, where Paul said that if sin is abundant, then God's grace is surely big enough to cover it all. Some use that as saying we have a license to sin, a "get out of jail free" card. But if you continue to read, Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" 


Paul in essence says, "Do we continue to sin since grace covers sin. Ummmm, Hello! Have you not been listening to me? We have died to sin and been born again!" In John 8:11, Jesus instruction to the woman caught committing adultery was to, "go and sin no more." He did not tell her to go and try not to sin like many churches preach. He told her not to sin at all. 


Does this mean that we will never sin. No, Romans tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What I am saying is that we should not get stuck in the sin cycle. I used to set aside days to sin because I knew that I would be forgiven. "I am going to get drunk tonight, I shall ask forgiveness tomorrow" or "She looks cute, let me see if I can have sex with her. If I do, I can just go to God in prayer in the morning. He expects me to sin, so it is okay." 


I wanted what was promised to me at church; I was attracted by the music, to fit in with the crowd, the promise of wealth and happiness. But did I truly want what God had to offer? I think that we often do not take advantage of the true gifts of God, because He wants to give us more than we really want. I want to believe in God, but not follow all of those rules and commandments. The real question is, why do I want to believe in God?


It is not enough to simply desire to be saved. We must also desire to be more Christ-like. If I am truly "born again" or have had a "conversion," then the Holy Spirit lives in me. Are you going to tell me that the Holy Spirit wants us to sin? Is the Holy Spirit okay with us sinning? Let me give an example:


When my son lies, do I forgive him and still love him? Of course, but do I want more for him? Do I want to be able to trust all that he says and does? Should I settle for anything less than full honesty when he grows up? Of course not, the older he gets the more he will understand the difference between right and wrong. 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." 


As we learn what is right and wrong, we should begin to live differently. But how do matured Christians live their lives? How do we know what we should or should not do? What is the ultimate guide? I would say that our choices in life should be guided by several things:

1. Prayer is the first thing that we should use as part of our guide. 1 Thessalonians 5:13 tells us that we should, "pray without ceasing." That sounds like a vitally important thing to do.

2. Apply the Biblical principles to our lives. It will allow us to live our lives and be successful in becoming more like Christ. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 

3. Obey God's commands in all that we do. The commandments are not multiple choice. This is a pass or fail test. John 14:21 says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

4. Seek Godly counsel. Use those around us as mentors and advisers. Proverbs 15:22 states, " Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

5. Follow the leading of God through the Holy Spirit. John 16:13,14 says, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

If we can apply these 5 steps to our lives, we will begin to make huge steps in becoming more Christ-like. Do not accept the road that is so often traveled in watered down, or what Francis Chan calls "luke warm" Christianity. We need to take the road less traveled. In Robert Frost's poem entitled, "The Road Not Taken" the last stanza tells us all that we need to know about going against the mainstream and how it will benefit us:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Matthew 5:13

I was looking at the Sermon on the Mount last night, and it really got me thinking. I am pretty sure that many of us have read this passage, but have we actually applied it to our lives. I think that I will spend my next few blogs discussing it in part due to the relevance of the scriptures to all Christians but also because of how interesting it is to dissect. I will start with Matthew 5:13, which says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

We are the salt of the earth. That is a profound statement when you think about what salt’s purpose is. Salt has several beneficial uses. One of the ways that we utilize salt is to enhance the flavor of other foods. When Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth He is implying that we can enhance those around us, even the places that we go. We can make them more flavorful. Read that as saying that those on the earth will be bettered by us because we can enhance them.

We are to make those who are around us improved. It should be easy for us to do. After all, we have the Holy Spirit in us as a guide, to lead us so that we are positive examples to others. As salt has a beneficial effect on food, we should have a beneficial effect on those around us. We are to be the meek, the merciful, the pure at heart even the peacemakers according to the beatitudes. We are to lead by example and continue to follow the example that Christ has set for us.

Another way we employ salt is to preserve food so that it does not get rotten, so that it does not go bad. We live in a world that is strongly urged on by sin, which is ruled by Satan. How does this affect us? People are leaving the church at a horrific rate. In 1990 86% of America professed Christianity; in 2009 it was 75%. As the devil tries to take over, we need to try to preserve what is still good.

We can cause others to stumble, and we can cause them to prosper spiritually. The choice is ours. This is made apparent when the scripture says that salt can lose its saltiness. Salt can become weakened and/or watered down. I think that for many of us the Gospel has become watered down because our faith has become watered down. We only want to know how much we have to do in order to be saved. Since I was baptized and go to church twice a week, I am good.

Francis Chan challenges that America has become filled by lukewarm (I read this watered down) Christians. We try to see how much we can get away with, we make excuses, and “Surely God meant do not murder, but it has to be okay to lie.” We rationalize our sin. We imagine that since the Bible states in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” that it is okay to sin, since we are doomed to do it anyway.

The true question is not how do I lose my saltiness, for that is as easy as becoming part of the world, of allowing the world to take hold of you again. The scripture says that if we lose our saltiness, we cannot regain it again, we become good for nothing. I personally don’t care how I lose my saltiness. If I am playing baseball, I do not train to not lose, I train to win. The most important question we can ask ourselves on this verse is HOW DO I KEEP MY SALTINESS!!!!!

If the world truly accepts you and all that you do, you are not keeping your saltiness. If you do not drop to your knees multiple times daily in prayer and meditation, you are not keeping your saltiness. If you think that church is only for Sundays, if people would not know that you are a Christian if they did not see you in church…..you are not keeping your saltiness.

God has called us, Jesus died for us and the Holy Spirit lives in us. What more do you need. If the Holy Spirit truly lives in us, we should not be comfortable in our lives. We are called to evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship and praise. If we are always comfortable, then we are reaching out to the wrong people. Honestly, I would say that we are probably not reaching out to anyone.

We are called the salt of the earth. That means that we alone have the ability to influence those around us, to flavor this sinful world by giving others hope that not all is lost. We need to restore those who have lost their faith, and bring to Christ those who have never met Him. If you wonder how to do this, the answer is simple. Be Christ-like! Do not be a complacent Christian! Lead by example. Remember Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”