The New Year 2018: Trim the Fat! Invest in Substance!

The New Year 2018: Trim the Fat! Invest in Substance!                          Kelly Durant

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2. How many of you have signed up to go to the gym in 2018? This time of year people go and pay for memberships so they can get exercise to lose all the fat they gained last year. Here you can get the basic package for $10 a month, if you want to. Some of us might need it, right?

But here is the problem, most people go a few weeks and then they stop! And then they keep paying month after month hoping and thinking they will get down to the gym and never do after January! It is the illusive human quality of wanting to improve yourself, but then you are not willing to do the work, be persistent, or be disciplined to carry through with your goals.

In order to achieve something, I suggest you need someone to push you. In this case you need a friend who signed up at the gym with you who will call you and say, “Hey, I’m on my way to pick you up, remember tonight is workout night”. And you end up going when you did not want to just because you don’t want your friend disappointed with you!

3. We need to translate this concept into spiritual discipline as well! Some people would always choose to sleep in on Sunday morning if it were not for their friends, kids, mate, or someone pushing them to go to church to hear the Word of God. In reality, it is actually more important to maintain your spirit healthy, holy, and happy than it is to maintain your body so perfect.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 

1 Timothy 4:8

For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

Don’t misunderstand, our bodies are God’s temple and we must keep them as properly fed and toned as we can, but the problem in today’s world is some people only focus on the body and never the spirit. Some people are willing to sweat hours in the gym to have an attractive body, but because they leave no time to learn almost nothing about the things of God, then they become worthless to God and to anyone. The vanity of wanting no fat and desiring only shallow beauty is unbalancing our societies. Wasting money on expensive vain clothing and things is insulting and hurting the poor of the world who need our help. Our ideas of beauty need to be redefined to include godliness, altruistic values, generosity and integrity, and must not be limited to ourselves only. The lust enticing idolized marketed youth are the poster children of the ones who are abused and exploited! Finally in 2017, a few politicians and Hollywood moguls are getting exposed and prosecuted for their crimes of abuse, lust, and vanity.

4. More on the vanity of beauty: We had a friend that on his farm he bred show dogs. These were Irish setter dogs with a pretty bright red fur but he had them on chains all they time. One time I asked him, “Why don’t you unchain them to run free?” He replied, “If they ran free they would get lost in the woods, get eaten by other animals, or starve to death. These dogs are bred to look pretty, that’s all!”. 

I immediately thought about how this compares to many people! Some people spend all their life’s energy on their looks, their image, and their bodies to the point their minds, spirits, and hearts are practically empty of anything of value. They have no real skills, knowledge or wisdom! Some people are a danger to their selves and to others due to a lack of knowledge of the things of God!

This show dog analogy also is comparable to many sport stars, actors, or performers. They are all about their selves, all show, with no depth or purpose for others; they are just vain selfish, precocious ego tripping fools prideful in voicing their nonsense, exposing their ignorance over spiritual or political opinions, or world events. And yet the fools of the world admire and copy these obnoxious, lavish, indifferent, devoid of love manipulating lovers of the destructive things of the world!

5. So the fat I want to talk about trimming today is not just the fat of the “weight” that besets  and accumulates from laziness and excessive consumption, it is the fat of the burdens that weigh us down and prevent us from running as we should in the race to obey Jesus. The trimming must be with the vain things of life, trimming away the vain ones of the world, eliminating the excessive enticements that distract us away from our focus on pleasing Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (And God and His angels are watching you and me!)

The Lord wants us strong in body, mind, and spirit, and to get to that point we must train by investing our time on the right things, replacing the fat (sinful things) with muscle or fortitude stemming from edifying practices from God’s word. The idea of cutting fat is a basic one, it implies that you and I will no longer be wasteful and excessive with the valueless temporary trends and things of the world, but rather we will be investing in the important things of God. Also, just stop wanting so much, we have so much already!

6. To trim the fat, first try turning off the TV or computer for a half hour or more daily and start praying and reading the Bible instead. You will be surprised how this simple practice will help you grow in faith, strength, and holiness. For most of my years in South America we did not even own a TV, so my wife and I read together an hour or two daily and this gave us faith to not fear or worry over our circumstances and we were often in dangerous situations with no money or secure income. 

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

You need a Christian friend, and who will it be to maintain you on track? Decide today amongst those here! It is humanly impossible for my wife and I to be calling each one of you daily to monitor you to be sure you are investing in the things of God, the meat and not the fat, I wish we could, but the reality is it is you that must take conviction and decide that it is you and only you that can help yourself to change to form the spiritual habits that please God.

7. In the Salvation Army we have a discipline known as “self-denial”. It is a practice in which you give up, say, having a coke-cola everyday to apply that money towards the mission field. For example, if 33 of you here gave an extra $30 (a $1 coke a day) for a month sometime or another during the year, that would mean $1,000 could be raised! These are things we can start practicing. But this is only one example of trimming the fat and making it become substance.

You could donate what you would normally spend on your fattening dessert too. Did you know restaurants are discouraging people from getting fatter? (My opinion, ha!) Well, they make their money on what you eat, but what I observe is desserts now cost $7 or $8 dollars, and that discourages me from wanting anything fattening! We can skip the dessert, we can just be happy with the basics in life as we have been many times in the past, do you not agree?

What I really would like is for you to start applying an extra 20 to 30 minutes daily to reading God’s word and praying, praying for the Salvation Army’s mission in Winchester, praying for all here so we can do more for God, praying for new lost souls to come, praying for finances, praying for your own protection and spiritual growth. Replace the fat junk with substance.

8. Another comparison to trimming the fat is downsizing the rolls such as what is done in companies, social clubs and even churches every year. For example, in social clubs every year they must look at who is not attending faithfully or being half-hearted, and see who is not paying their dues and let them go. Some leave and some join, that’s just life everywhere.

During a meeting I was in, in a certain social club a few weeks ago, they were mentioning that they were not happy with people who want the benefits of the organization yet these people do nothing to support the group when they have fund-raisers or community activities. I was thinking in the back of my mind that it is the same way it is in the church.

Many people join clubs and churches for various reason and then later after a few years, when they are expected to be more responsible for some area, instead of stepping up they step down. This is just normal activity of any group, some come and some leave every year. But in the end, it often hurts to see others leave when you and I, and many people, have loved and invested in them and instead of them loving back, instead of staying through thick or thin, they decide to move on. Sadly, this is just life in any relationship, some are loyal until death, while others are just for a year or two. God knows they reasons and we leave that for Him to sort out.

9. So this is the challenge today, when you pray, what is God going to show you about yourself. Where does God want you to trim the excessive unnecessary things that your money and time go to that bring no fruit for Him? How have you failed God in not giving to Him that which would honor Him more, be it your time or donation?

People are happiest when they function as lean machines! Excessive baggage, be it emotionally, financially, or materially will tax you and slow and weigh you down to be less productive and happy with yourself. But it works like this too, how can you expect God to be happy with you as person in how you live with your habits if you yourself are not happy with yourself? You and I need to have healthy practices, spiritually and financially, to be solid and strong and pleasing to God.

This New Year of 2018 is a good one for starting over. If you can eliminate or trim some fat in your life and do it for 2 weeks, then you have a chance to carry it on for the rest of the year. Don’t live another year of your life without improving! Or don’t waste your life by bad habits and by making it worse with more fat either. Show dogs and vanity fade quickly! Providing substance for yourself and others within God’s plan will pay off eternally!

Let the Lord speak to your heart…how can you improve this year by rendering more to Him, more to take care of your family, and more to win lost souls for Jesus, and more to support your church Corps?