Diet

May 13, 2020

“You can’t out-train a bad diet.” So read the tee shirt worn by trainer Funk Roberts. Yeah, the name is a bit different, but I’ve been following his YouTube workout videos for awhile now; they’re free and designed for guys over 40, so I figure I am eminently qualified to do them. He doesn’t do lengthy workouts, but they can be pretty intense, which works for me.

I signed up for a 30 day ab workout, and on the second day, he was wearing this shirt, which states a truth worth pondering. I began working out some twenty years ago when the Lord told me he wasn’t pleased with the shape I’d allowed his temple to get into. I bought a set of workout tapes (VHS should tell you how long I’ve been doing this), and got to work. It was a 90 day program which I did faithfully, losing about ten pounds and adding some muscle in the process. I’ve worked a number of different programs over the years, mixing things up so my body wouldn’t get too used to a particular routine. 

I really worked at it, but didn’t see much change where I wanted to see change. I’ve noticed that most men forty, fifty, or sixty years old tend to have a bit of a gut on them. A lot of the guys who were jocks in high school are jokes in later life. I was never a jock, but that middle-age gut was creeping up on me. 

I was pretty faithful in working out, and have a thrice-weekly abdominal routine that takes me through 250 crunches, leg lifts, and other abdominal workouts, but I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted. My problem was spelled out on that tee shirt. Hard workouts are cancelled out by poor eating habits. I was regularly snacking in the evenings, eating bigger portions than I really needed, and generally negating any progress made in my workouts. What goes in the mouth is just as important as the what is expended in a workout.

If that is true in the physical realm, it stands to reason to be true in the spiritual realm. Yesterday, I spoke of feeling sidelined during the COVID lockdown. I want to be in the game, but the flip side of it is, “What kind of nourishment am I taking in? Am I subsisting on spiritual junk food, or gorging myself on study, growing spiritually fat and lazy? Or am I starving myself of the good spiritual food I need, merely snacking on devotionals, Facebook memes, and snatches of Scripture? If this spiritual temple is to be a place suited for the glory of God to dwell through the Holy Spirit; if I am to be strong in service and ministry, exercising my spiritual gifts; I must make sure I am taking in the solid food of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus, the Bread of Life (Hebrews 5:12-14). It means cutting out the junk food of frivolous reading and viewing so I can grow strong in the Spirit. After all, as Funk says, I can’t out train a bad diet.