Never Say Die(t)

Could it be that diets would be rendered useless if I lived a balanced, Spirit-controlled life? Could it be that the excess weight would never appear on my hips and thighs in the first place if I exercised a little more discipline on a daily basis instead of waiting for the mirror to break into hysterical laughter at the sight of my hideous jelly rolls? Undoubtedly, yes, but I'm not entirely there yet. I'm a struggling human, a mere mortal, and I have yet to ascend to the mountain of dietary perfection (though I am determined to never stop trying).

I think we use worship like we use food, hoping to medicate ourselves with it at times. For some of us, worship is an opportunity to hide in the crowd. For others it is chance to forget all about the world and our problems and to get caught up in the exuberance and excitement of the crowd, only to exit the building and fall right back into the same sewer we crawled out of. For a select few, it seems, worship is exercised in its proper perspective as one of several major spiritual disciplines and as a reflection of how we usually conduct our lives.

If we don't watch ourselves, the trend toward performance-driven "worship" in the church is going to catch up with us like too many doughnuts. We'll look in the Biblical mirror one day and realize that we've become fat on empty carbs and sugar. When we try to flex some spiritual muscle it will all have atrophied and the enemy will trample us with silly worship wars or immorality. When we choose to use worship music as a church growth tool we're inching ever closer to the dessert bar with bowls for pudding in both hands.

The root word for discipline is disciple and a disciple is one who is disciplined. I don't know about you, but I want to fit back into my "skinny pants" not to just look good but to feel good. I want to live the kind of disciplined life in and for Jesus that makes diets an unnecessary thing of the past. I want to be ready to follow Him wherever He leads and not be so gorged on fluffy Christianity and religion that I lack the stamina and outright holy health to complete the assignments He gives me. I don't want a doughnut to divert my destiny.