(This is what I was inspired with during church last week!)
In my ABF (adult Bible fellowship, aka: Sunday School for Adults), our teacher was talking about “upgrading” our faith. What I love about our physical life is that there are so many parallels from which we can draw with our spiritual life (and vice versa). I love when God’s divinely inspired Word speaks to us directly and in many facets of life.
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The passage was in 2 Peter 1:3-9
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”
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The qualities listed are like stair steps, almost that each one is built off of the other. Not that you ever have full achievement or victory in each of the areas before you move to the next, but I do believe that there is an upgrade factor as you hit each one, as we ultimately end with love.
The portion that immediately stuck out to me were these 3 qualities: knowledge, self-control, and perseverance.
I believe that these 3 qualities, in this order, are CRUCIAL to upgrading your health. Let me break it down.
♦ Knowledge: Be smart. One of my passions is to TEACH you about health & fitness on this blog. I feel that there is so much to be gained in knowledge.
♦ Know Yourself. What motivates you. What stops you.
♦ Know what you are eating. Understand the food label. Know what makes a balanced meal. How many calories should you intake?
♦ Know what works for your body. What exercises do you enjoy? Which do you hate? What music keeps you going?
♦ Self-Control: It’s saying no when our body says yes.
♦ Set boundaries.
♦ Stay focused.
♦ Keep accountable.
♦ Perseverance: It’s the fortitude to keep on keeping on when things are rough. It’s what the track runner did here.
♦ Keep going. Let nothing stop you nor sway you.
♦ When you fall, get back up. Repeat.
Why are these qualities so important? If you read the verses BEFORE we get to the list of “upgrades”, you’ll see this, “To escape the corruption in the world caused by EVIL DESIRE” The world is not going to help you. It will encourage the opposite of what you see above:
Ignorance, Impulsiveness, and Defeat.
It’s hard work, but it’s worthy work. Press higher. Do you need an upgrade?