Yesterday at church we had a really encouraging message which struck me as being directly relevant to Fit For Life Forever so I want to pass on some of the points to you…

The subject of the talk was ‘Pilgrim or Tourist?’  As tourists (especially on a package holiday) we want to find the cheapest, quickest, easiest and most convenient way of reaching our destination. If there are hold-ups for any reason frustration, impatience and irritability sets in and we want to know why we haven’t got there yet. In many ways this is the spirit of the age and it isn’t difficult to see how the concept readily translates into the diet mentality of wanting a quick fix. 

As Christians, we need to remember that we are not tourists here on planet earth, but pilgrims.  Our goal or destination is very important, but it isn’t everything.  The journey is just as important because it teaches us so much.  Pilgrimage is about the whole of life and true pilgrims allow the journey to change them. 

Fit For Life Forever is a journey, but it isn’t for the tourist.  We need to have the heart of a pilgrim – a conviction to keep going whatever happens and allowing the journey to change us. So the going gets tough at times, sure it does.  We become weary and may even want to quit.  But we can’t let the terrain stop our journey! We must (like the apostle Paul confessed) ‘press on to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of us.’ (Philippians 3:11) 

Some of you reading this may be at the start of your Biblical weight-loss journey, but there will be others of you who have allowed yourself to become weary in well-doing and have lost your focus.  Perhaps it didn’t happen as quickly for you as you had hoped, or maybe you have begun to understand that there are so many underlying issues in your life that need to be addressed and you just don’t want to go there. But, hey – this is all part of the pilgrimage!  Don’t try and find a short cut – it will be counter-productive; don’t try to circumvent the obstacles – if you can embrace them as challenges which God has allowed to enrich your life, the benefits will go way beyond weight loss.

When tourists get bored with where they are going they simply change destination.  But there is only one destination in the Christian walk and that is our conformity to Christ. There are some high peaks in that journey, sure there are, but much of the time it is simply a matter of keeping on keeping on, just doing what we know is right and making it our aim to please the One who has called us. It is His responsibility to lead us to our goal, not ours. Our part is just to follow: to humility, because we can’t make it on our own; in obedience, because we are not our own, and in trust, because He who called us is faithful – and He will do it!