FAITH WITHOUT ACTION IS DEAD
One month ago you sat down with a brand new journal and your favorite pen to document the complete process of your weight loss and fitness program.
You set your goals just the way all the best self-help gurus told you to do. You made specific, reasonable goals with a time line so that you were sure to look and feel great this year.
Now, one month later, are you ready to give in and give up because nothing has changed? You look the same, feel the same and you’re ready to give up the same way you always have?
You ask yourself, where did I go wrong? What happened? I really believed I was going to do it this year. I carefully planned out each detail so that I would be successful. I don’t get it!
Sound familiar? Let’s see if together, we can figure out what went wrong. And as always, I like to tie in fitness with scripture.
James 2:14-17 (NIV)
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it not accompanied by action, is dead.
We can be the most positive thinker in the world. We can chant all the positive affirmations and incantations. We can visualize and see ourselves clearly in the new wardrobe we’re going to get when we lose 3 sizes. But, unless we take action and put in the hard work and maintain discipline, it’s not going to happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in positive thinking, setting goals, visualizing yourself achieving your goals and all the rest. I believe that you need to be clear about what you want out of life long before you ever get it.
I also believe you have to establish your own “why” you have set that particular goal.
Really, being a specific size is not the goal. You have set a specific goal because of how it would make you feel. Or, because of some memory of what was going on in your life when you were that size. You might even be thinking about the possibility of what could be going on in your life if you achieve that goal.
Okay, you know what the problem is by now don’t you? Are you completing your faith by taking action?
Here are some easy action steps you can start implementing today. The sooner you start, the sooner you will arrive at your goal!
-Get up a half hour earlier each day for an “intense” workout, and burn 200-300 calories (depending on your size, gender, etc.).
-Order a turkey sandwich without mayonnaise or cheese. There’s another 200+ calories.
-Replace 1 soda a day with water. We just dumped 150 calories.
-Have carrot sticks rather than chips with your sandwich. You are now down another 200+ calories.
We haven’t gone past lunch yet and we have created a calorie deficit of over 750 calories. With just those small changes alone you could lose 1 pound about every 4 days.
Just as with our faith, we build on small changes. When we see the result of our believing and action, we can believe for bigger and better.
I firmly believe that we achieve our goals with a series of small successes. When we accomplish something we said was important to us or, something that was a little out of our reach, we then can grow our faith to accomplish something even bigger.
Don’t give up……take action!
James 2:24 (NIV)
You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
Phyllis Stewart is the author of God’s Temple-40 Days to Total Transformation and This is It. She spent almost 3 years in Iraq serving the troops by managing sports, fitness and recreation facilities and programs. Since returning to the states she is fitness coaching online and by phone and resides in Vienna, Virginia. For more information about Phyllis or her services please visit www.expectsuccesspt.com or email her at phyllis@expectsuccesspt.com