A lot of pastors are fat, including ME. The other day I stepped on the scales and was promptly mortified with round mass of man I have become. This is sad because a pastor that refuses to address his weight is hypocritical. I will often tell people to have “self control” when it comes to sex before marriage or have “self control” when it comes to smoking…but I can’t seem to practice “self control” in a buffet line. In Baptist world, the one I am most familiar with, many of the pastors have a problem with people drinking alcohol but they would NEVER speak against someone eating too many biscuits. There is even a inside joke of “Baptist Butts” to refer to the oversized nature of our posteriors in our churches. Statistics prove that way more people die every year due to obesity or obesity related (and preventable disorders) than alcohol yet the SBC remains silent on the subject and it’s literally killing us.
Here’s the deal, I am not comfortable telling you how much I currently weight but please know it is embarrassing and reflects my lack of discipline in this area of my life and no matter how hard I pray the fat would not go away (trust me I’ve tried). I have realized my weight was a spiritual issue and I have to do something about it so I am letting the world know that I’m doing the following and you have permission to keep me accountable:
- I am beginning to exercise at least 30 minutes at least 6 days a week. I don not have the income to purchase a gym membership but last year I found the time and space to run 3 times a week and I know how to add 3 more workouts, I just need to do it.
- I am cutting out ALL soft drinks those things (which I don’t drink all that often) alone were responsible for hundreds of extra calories a day that I did not need.
- I will quit ALL snacking after 6:00 at night.
- I will begin eating healthier. This will be hard as I am always out eating and hosting people but I have to learn that if I “eat clean” most of the time then I can eat whatever I want some of the time. I love salads salads and veggies and I can cut way back on the carbohydrates.
Our bodies are supposed to be a temple fro the Holy Spirit to reside and I an verging on a mega church and need to downsize. If you think I am being tough on this one it is because I am. I know how hard it is to take control back of this area, I know how if feels to struggle with this and I know what it is like to overcome, I have done it before.
So how’s your physical health? Would you want to join me on this journey? Let me know your thoughts below
My husband I were commenting about being a temple of the Holy Spirit the other day and we started to ask ourselves, ” I am I a place the Holy Spirit would want to hang out in? Am I a sanctuary for Him?” If we look at ourselves and realize that this temple is not something even we would choose to hang out in then it’s definitely not someplace He would choose. Strangely and amazingly he does despite our often lack of good stewardship over it. I have to tell you that recently we cut out soft drinks and candy of any kind because we realized as well that taking care of our physical was also part of taking good care of our temples and being a place He would want to choose to be.
Thank You for this post and I plan on joining you in seeking be a better steward of my temple in the physical sense.