Take action: In a real way, we are on a battleground. How can we best prepare for the battles that we face spiritually? Try our Suiting Up for Battle online interactive life lesson series based on Ephesians 6.

You said it: This week Fiona shared on the Who We Are – Those who Worship by the Spirit of God women’s devotional, saying “Thank you for is devotion it is something I did not think about lately.To worship is to know Him and know Him is to love Him. A true worshiper knows God in spirit and in truth. Meaning you know who is your Creator and your source of life. The all knowing Omnipotent God.” Read the rest of the comments on Who We Are – Those who Worship by the Spirit of God, and join the conversation on Devotional for Men and Devotional for Women, each updated daily!

Blog: In Remembrance
The holiday goes by different names in different places, including Remembrance Day, Veteran’s Day, Poppy Day, and Armistice Day, but the sentiment is the same: Not to glorify the tragedy of war, but to commemorate the valor of those who fought to defend their country. Read more

Article: Heroes: At What Cost?
Alex Rodriguez recently won the World Series with the New York Yankees, with whom he signed a $252million ten year contract earlier this year. However, he has also admitted to taking illegal steroids, after lying about it publicly. Read more

Coming up next week: One of the topics of our upcoming online chats is “Learning to Love Again” Join us in the chat room November 15th 2009 @ 9:00pm EST for this chat or see also our full chat calendar for other upcoming topics.

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27).

All I needed was a loaf of bread, so I turned into one of those gas stations on steroids where you can buy most of the necessities of life. I looked up and down row after of row for a simple measly loaf of bread. Finally, in the back corner on a bottom shelf, I found a loaf or two. But, what amazed me was all the other food offerings.

There was row after row of all sorts of snacks containing high fats, carbs and sugar. I started looking at the nutrition disclosures on individual packages. Why, the calorie intake on some of those small packages was more than half of a recommended daily caloric diet. No wonder American’s have an obesity problem.

You are what you eat, and what you eat influences virtually everything in your life, from how much energy you have . . . to how well your brain works . . . to how long you live. If you want to have a great brain, you must consistently give it nutrient-rich foods. I know it sounds almost too easy, but it’s a scientific fact: Change your diet, and you change your life.

But, those same principles dealing with our nutritional food diet apply to our spiritual diet and effect our life just as much…..change your thoughts and change your life. Garbage in, garbage out, or so the saying goes. We tend to become what we think about all day long.

Paul gives us some worthy advice in Philippians 4:8: “And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.”

Truth, goodness, righteousness, purity and loveliness… think about these things. Let them be the object of your careful attention and study, so as to practice them. Think what they are; think on the obligation to observe them; think on the influence which they would have on the world around you. Esteem them highly, recommend them heartily, and practice them fervently.

Are you still feeding your soul junk food? Just as you change your pattern of eating to get physically fit, change your pattern of thinking to get spiritually fit. Think on good things and you will be a better person. Cast your thoughts on Jesus and you become more like him.   ( a thought on life from John Grant )

Questions: What are some of the “junk foods” you are feeding your soul? What steps need to be taken in order to have a healthier spiritual life?

About the Author John Grant

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Jesus, The Bread of Life, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

NFL football coach Vince Lombardi, known for his quotes about the importance of wining, once quipped “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” With pressure like this on individuals (and athletes in particular) to be successful, is it any surprise that many turn to illegal performance enhancing drugs to improve their abilities? What does God think about using such “performance enhancers”? First we need to understand what steroids are, and the potential risks stemming from their use.

Pressure to succeed

Alex Rodriguez, signed to a ten year, $252million contract with the New York Yankees, admitted in February 2009 that he took steroids while he was with the Texas Rangers. During a news conference, he implicitly admitted to lying in a 2007 CBS 60 Minutes interview where he denied that he ever took steroids.¹ Not only has he risked his health, his reputation has irreversibly suffered. And throughout the country, parents are no doubt having long talks with their major-league hopeful children who may be confused about this latest sports related drug controversy.

Heroes are, generally speaking, successful. And since there is tremendous pressure for athletes to succeed, they may be tempted to turn to banned substances such as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) to enhance their performance. Abusing AAS is known to potentially cause many negative side effects such as²:

• For men. Reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer.
• For women. Growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, deepened voice.
• Users may suffer psychiatric dysfunction, including depression, violent mood swings, paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and “impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.”

AAS can also be addictive. Given all of these health risks, it’s surprising to hear when famous athletes get caught using steroids. Besides being potentially quite harmful, use of these drugs is also banned in professional sports.

Made in God’s image

As Christians, we should be concerned with taking care of our bodies. Paul asks rhetorically “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” then follows up with an answer: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) We shouldn’t give in to shortcuts in a misguided attempt to “get ahead.” Jesus once asked the crowd that gathered to hear him speak: “What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?” (Mark 8:36, TNIV) Therefore, we should seek to avoid anything which causes our body harm.

Christians should care about our health because God has entrusted our bodies to us to use in service of Him. Don’t be tempted to resort to dangerous measures to try to live up to secular society’s aspirations of how you should look.

The apostle Paul struggled with a “thorn in [his] flesh.” When he appealed to God in prayer, he was told “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” leading Paul to say “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians  12:7-10) Remember that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) So while we should be willing to work hard to improve ourselves, we should not feel ashamed at our weakness, because God will still work through us if we are willing to let Him.

Our response

How are we to respond when Christian friends seek their own glory at the expense of their health? Paul advises us that “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” (Romans 15:1) Instead of responding in judgment, we should respond by compassionately attempting to guide our friends back to a healthy conception of themselves, and remind them of how God sees them.

The secular concept of “winning is everything” shouldn’t be allowed to infiltrate our thinking. Winning is not, as popular wisdom might suggest, everything. Remember the Vince Lombardi quote from the beginning of the article? “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” Shortly before he died, Lombardi recanted, saying “I wish I’d never said it. I meant the effort. I sure didn’t mean for people to crush human values and morality.”³

Worshiping God in spirit and truth, trusting in Him with our very lives, and seeking to honor Him for who He is and what He has done, is everything in life, not winning. And everything else we should leave up to Him. You may never become a baseball player with a multi-million dollar salary. But instead you will receive a much higher reward: Hearing your God say “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21)

Daily Devotional: Identity in Christ
10 Ways to be an active parent

¹Ronald Blum, “A-Rod admits using performance-enhancing drugs,” Associated Press, n.p. Cited 16 February 2009. Online: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ga08p3lsWdla0TRU6ElMmpEEN3LgD968K6RG1
²National Institute on Drug Abuse, “NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic)” n.p. Cited 16 February 2009. Online: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/steroids.html
³John Churdar, “The Need for Good Sportsmanship,” BJU Press, n.p. Cited 19 February 2009. Online: http://www.bjupress.com/resources/articles/balance/need-for-good-sportsmanship.php