New
York strip steaks, crab legs and anything you could imagine, this was a buffet
for kings. Now imagine if you could look but you couldn’t eat any of it? For
several summers I witness this happening. I was a cafeteria employee serving
the Michigan State football players in the three week training camp before
school started up. They paid and had the top quality everything. Some of these
life size giants weren’t allowed to touch the food. They came in out of shape
and overweight.
The
result of there relaxing summer was three weeks of awfulness. They sat down and
watched there teammates/coaches devour some of the best food in the world. They
would sit there on their specialized diets eating hard boiled eggs, oatmeal and
everything bland you could imagine. Some of these players were on watch, they
had a team manager directing what they could and couldn’t eat. I might not have
seen tears but you could tell on the inside these are grown men cried.
Sometimes
we have to test ourselves and keep ourselves in check. Some of these football
players came into camp in top notch shape, others paid the price for there
actions or lack there of.
*Side
note: It was also during this time I witnessed the fastest I have ever seen a
person eat a large pizza. One of the players on the diet ordered a pizza hid in
the bushes (The hall was right across from the training facility) and ate an
entire large pizza in seconds I swear. It was amazing, it was even more amazing
to see the strength and conditioning coach almost walk into him doing this. It
did not end well for that player.
A
moment of self reflection is key for everyone. Just like these select football
players needed it, we need it. Stopping right now what is an area you need to
change in your life?
Staying
in shape isn’t always easy and effort needs to be made for it to happen. I have
notice my health started to slip and right now I am about 20 pounds over my
ideal weight. Today I need to work towards changing that habit. Just like our
health can slip so can our spiritual health.
Self
reflection needs to happen in faith. There was one point I was struggling in
faith when I first became a Christian and honestly I was scarred to talk to
people about faith because truly I didn’t know much about it. I decided to
change what I was doing and try to improve on my knowledge and what I didn’t
know. We have to reflect on what we truly believe.
2
Corinthians 13:5 (MSG)… Test yourselves
to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything
for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not
mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test,
do something about it.
Our
faith needs a check up. We need to check to make sure we are saying and doing
matchup. Do you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Following Jesus is not easy and we
all make mistakes, but we are all called to work on our problems and improve.
Faith isn’t attending a church service. That’s making an appearance to God, not
living out faith. The Corinth church had issues but wouldn’t try to solve the
issues. Paul would have to call them out. Paul is hoping the people look at
themselves, what they are doing and checking does it match up with faith in
Jesus?
Take
a moment and look at your life? What is it you want to accomplish and work
towards that. I don’t know where I would be in faith if I didn’t have that self
reflection moment years ago. Life is full of choices just like a buffet. What
are you willing to indulge in and what should you pass on? Choose your
adventure.
Have
a great day.
