Week one devotional

Lie #1: If I could just change______, then i would be happy.

Let me paint a picture for you. If someone you loved more than anything in this world came to you with something they made with their own two hands and said, “look at this beautiful piece of work, this masterpiece that I created. I’m so proud of this!” what would your response be if you didn’t like the way it looked? What would you say? Would you tell that person that you didn’t think it looked good or that you wished you could change just this one thing to make it better? No, you wouldn’t! Why? Because you love that person and that would be unloving.

You would try to shift your perspective to see their creation as they see it. You would look for the beauty in it and look past what you perceive as flaws. You would try to see it through their lens. THIS is what we do to our Heavenly Father who created us in His image, who calls us His masterpiece.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s “masterpiece.” This is how He sees us. So instead of picking apart his masterpiece, aka YOU, try to see yourself through His lens. Ask Him to open your heart to see your value in Him. As you start your health and fitness journey, I want you to go into this knowing that God doesn’t want to change any part of you. He loves you-- just as you are today. Right now, he loves you. He’s created you in His image, and y’all he only creates good things.

You are worthy. You are valued. You are loved. Just as you are. If you continue reading Ephesians 2:10, you will see that God also tells us that we were created to do good works that He prepared in advance for us to do. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” - Ephesians 2:10. The desires He has placed on your heart today are there for a reason, whatever they may be. You are God’s perfect gift from above, but He’s also given you a specific set of gifts to carry out His mission for you on this earth. It’s hard to carry out His plans for us with an unhealthy heart or body. I want to encourage you to take care of your heart and your mind throughout this journey. You control what you allow into your heart and your mind, so surround yourself with good things. In that same way, you also control what you let into your body and how you treat it. Be a good steward of the body that God has given you. You only get one. So stop picking it apart and slapping God in the face as you condemn His beautiful creation. Focus on loving yourself well.

Your workouts this week are your time to invest in yourself. Approach them with a grateful heart, and instead of complaining about having to do them, thank God that you have a healthy body that is able to do them.

As you set your intentions for this journey, I want you to stop and make sure that you’re not chasing perfection. Philippians 1:6 says “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” We can only reach perfection when we are with Christ. He is making us new everyday, but perfection will only be achieved when we see Him face to face. Don’t strive for perfection; strive to take care of His masterpiece; strive to love his beautiful creation which is YOU; and have peace because He loves you just as you are.

Let these thoughts guide your intentions in your workouts this week and as you fill your body with the foods that it needs to be nourished well. Don’t get caught up believing the lie that if you could change one certain part of you, that you would then be happy. The truth is that you are God’s masterpiece right now and perfection doesn’t exist here on earth.

I have some homework for you this week, outside of your workouts. If I were to ask you why you signed up for this program, there’s a response that immediately comes to mind for you, whether it’s to lose weight, tone up, whatever. But I want you to dig deeper than that. What is it that you want to find freedom from? What are the thought-cycles that you’re tired of thinking? What’s holding you back from becoming the best version of yourself? What has stopped you from succeeding or taking action before? I bet something came to mind immediately for you. Spend some time reflecting on your answer this week, and dig a little deeper on that. Reflect on the passages I shared with you. Ephesians 2:10 and Philippians 1:6.

You can do this! Week one, here we go!