Sanctification – a new weight loss plan?

I have one paper left for summer term. This credo paper is beating me up something awful. I have to write three 800-word essays on three different theology topics from this term’s syllabus. The third of my topics is sanctification – the journey every Christian walks to become more Christlike during their earthly life. I have learned much about sanctification in my research for this paper.

One new tidbit for me was this: sanctification is a partnership between God and the Christian. God initiates sanctification at the time a person believes in Christ and we call on him to continue the work of sanctification in us. However, we are also instructed to yield ourselves to God and to work out our salvation – which we are then given many instructions throughout much of the New Testament as to how to do that.

It’s not that this was new – but really more that I had never thought of it in this way before. I’ve always known that my spiritual journey entails certain things that God does for me and other things that require my intentional effort. My sanctification has started with God’s grace which cleanses my sin, but it requires my decision to make the effort to continue on this new path of transforming into the image of God.

Today, I had an epiphany of sorts- this partnership that begins with God but depends on my commitment to action can be applied to more than just spiritual maturity. Because we as humans are made up of our physical body as well as our spirit/soul, this truth principle can be applied equally to our bodies and our spirits. I have really only ever applied this idea to my spiritual self. Today, in a heated discussion with God, I was shown the possibility of this truth being applied to the physical self as well.

I have struggled with my physical body for more years than I care to count at this point. But I realized today that I had been expecting God to do all the work for me – the equivalent of waiting for God to do all the work in sanctification. I kept praying to God that I would lose weight, that I would be motivated to exercise, that I would start to eat healthier. It is not wrong that I have prayed these things – but it hasn’t gotten me anywhere either. I actually weigh significantly MORE now than I did when these prayers began.

This would really be the same as if I were to pray for more patience, that I would be more loving, that I would develop compassion in my life. If I do not change my response to my kids, if I do not reach out to my neighbors when they need help, if I do not see the poor and marginalized and do something about it, I will not see more patience, love or compassion develop in my life. See, I can ask God for these things, but it requires my action for them to actually develop.

The exact same principle must apply to my physical body. I have asked God for weight loss, the desire to exercise, healthy eating – but until I put less food in my body, start walking more and begin planning/buying only healthy foods, the things I’ve asked for will never come into being. Not because God has not granted them to me – but because I have not taken hold of my responsibility in this journey. The truth is God has given them to me long ago, I just haven’t done my part. I can no longer hold God responsible for my failure in this area of life.

My desire going forward is to continually remind myself that sanctification is for more than just my spirit – it is for my body as well. Paul speaks of sanctification being a transformation from perishable bodies to imperishable, from dishonor to glory, from weakness to power (1 Cor 15:42-43). No where does Paul limit this transformation to our spiritual selves – I now see this can be equally applied to our physical bodies. And if it is my job to work out my salvation by striving to become more holy, more Christlike in my spirit, then it is also my responsibility to become more holy, more Christlike in my physical body.

Sanctification – an odd place to gather inspiration for another try at becoming healthier. God is most definitely still interested in seeing me take these special gifts that he has so long ago offered me. As of today, I see this in a very different way. I’m going to grab hold of my part in the sanctification of my body.

When God has more in store

Well, we are home now from India and we have been presented with a very interesting quandary. I’ll get to that in a minute. For now, here’s a recap of what God has done in this missions trip.

Throughout the entire planning process, we had been working with Dinesh and Rachel to try to nail down how many women would be coming to the conference. Since this was the first time they had ever done a conference for just the women, they were totally guessing it would be 40-60 women. Dinesh seemed sure it would not be more than 60, in fact, he seemed like it would be surprising if 60 came the last time we talked to him before leaving Minnesota.

The reality: by the time we finished writing down the name of the last woman that arrived, we were somewhere in the mid-90’s!! I don’t know exactly, but for the purposes of this blog, I’ll say we had 95 women come to this conference. So what happens when you have 150% attendance at a conference like this?

Because God knew how many women would be coming, we had brought enough prayer shawls for every woman, every translator, and a few more than that to receive a prayer shawl. Even though we had been planning on 60 women, we took 99 prayer shawls with us! In fact, the only supply that we ran out of was a craft project we had planned for the women. We were able to come up with an alternate idea for those over and above how many kits we had brought. But other than that, we had enough of everything else!

More women had the opportunity to hear God’s message of grace and love. There were countless tears of release, tears of freedom, tears of deep joy at this conference. Women that have been believers for many years felt Christ’s freedom for the first time. Some of these women told amazing stories of how the people in their lives were actively trying to prevent them from coming to this conference. And yet, God had more in store for them.

At the end of the conference, Dinesh asked the women to consider if they would be willing to take an active leadership role in starting a women’s ministry, or a children’s ministry, or a sewing center, or a literacy center in their villages. At least 15 women rose to the call. In our culture, that just means adding another thing on to our never-ending to-do list. In the mountain culture of the Himilayas, stepping forward to lead a Christian ministry means putting yourself out there for real persecution. These women have husbands or fathers that are not believers that have the authority to stop them from leading these ministries. These husbands and fathers are within their rights to lock these women inside their homes and not let them go to church. These men can physically stop the women however they see fit. And yet, God has more in store for these women – and they felt His call on their lives and responded.

And, now, back to our quandary:

First, because some of these women had no one to care for their children, the number attending the conference was not the same as the number of mouths we needed to feed. There were roughly 95 women there, but we fed 120+ during the conference. Generally speaking, the women do not drive in India, so every group of women that came was driven to Shimla by either the pastor or another man of the church. Add to that a dozen or so children, and soon we were feeding twice the number of people we had been planning for the whole conference.

And, also, the sewing project was a HUGE hit! As soon as Rachel described what the Be Free project was about (reuseable feminine hygiene products) the women turned into sewing monsters!!! They would have sewn all night if possible. We sent Satya, the office manager, off to the fabric store at least twice to buy more flannel (like 35 meters of flannel). This is after we had bought the initial first batch of flannel before the conference. We ended up having to buy 11 sewing machines! These machines will now go to start a sewing center – but we needed every one of them at this conference. Every woman there was excited to receive her own Be Free bag – and there are at least three women that will be leading this project in their sewing centers now.

So the quandary is this: when we left the U.S., we thought that we had raised enough money to cover the cost of the conference. We thought we had all our t’s crossed and i’s dotted. However, God had more in store for us and for India. We now look at how much it cost to feed twice the number of people expected and buy much more fabric than we had anticipated (not to mention the cost of 11 sewing machines) – and we realize that we are in need of financial support to offset the additional costs. If you would consider supporting this mission, please go to http://www.forefrontmission.com to see the work Dinesh and Rachel are doing. When you send your donation, please indicate that your donation is to support the extra costs of the Women’s Conference or the purchase of the sewing machines.

I ask you to see the ways that God has more in store for the women of India – and then to see how God has given you more than you need. Please consider sharing some of your extra with these women. They are so hungry for God’s word – our little extra means so very much to them!