Several years ago, educators in the United States came to the conclusion that the struggles students across the country were having with math had to do with the way it was being presented in the textbooks as “math problems.” The consensus was if students viewed math as a problem, it placed a negative connotation on the subject. Educators began using wording such as “number sentences” or “math skills,” and over a period of time the test scores in math across the country were significantly higher.
Adults could take a lesson from our children and change some of our wording, as well as some of our thinking, where our health is concerned. As a Certified Personal Trainer, I would like to see the words, “weight loss,” “diet,” “exercise,” and “workout,” eliminated from our vocabulary as we look to getting back on track with our physical health.
Isaiah 42:10 says, “Sing unto the Lord a new song.” Changing our thoughts and the way we sing them can place an entire new slant to the way we get into “Kingdom condition.” How many times have we heard these words come across our lips, “Oh, I can’t have the pie; I am on a diet,” or “If I am going to have any weight loss this week, I have to go work out”, or “I just hate even the thought of having to exercise.” Matthew 12:34 says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
To jump back on track with our physical well being, we need to first ask the Lord to change our hearts toward the task at hand. Rather than addressing the task as exercise and diet, we need a healthy attitude about healthy living. Ask the Lord for an attitude adjustment and begin to look at movement from a different perspective. Good health and being able to move about freely in God’s environment is part of the inheritance you were promised in His Word.
I remember before I began walking and reclaiming my healthy position in God’s Kingdom, even a trip to my mailbox was far away. Everything seemed to be a very long distance and very hard to obtain. At almost 300 pounds I often said that I hated to exercise. I even hated the word exercise. I prayed and asked the Lord to change my heart toward exercise, and one of the first things He did was to take the word exercise from my vocabulary. As I walked each day, I began to look at my good health as a privilege and an honor to the Lord. I stopped calling it an exercise and began to look at it as Kingdom conditioning.
By simply changing the words of my mouth, I found a genuine joy for that which I formerly hated. I was truly “singing to the Lord a new song.” It was not a new song I had chosen; it was a song He placed on my lips. I was free to move and live in him. That which seemed to be unobtainable is now at my fingertips.
If you have been off the physical track and are ready to jump back on, do it with a new song in your heart and a new attitude. Eliminate the old songs of “diet” and “exercise” and replace them with words of health and Kingdom condition. Rather than saying, “I can’t have pie, I am on a diet,” say to yourself, “To stay healthy, I don’t need the pie.” Be a good steward over the good health the Lord has entrusted to you.
Remember the “math problems?” Simply changing your vocabulary and your heart may bring a time when you will be healthy and energetic for the Lord and no longer be burdened with a “weight problem.”
Archived Article by Beverly Henson, Certified Personal Trainer