June 16, 2010Read: Matthew 13

“ … they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and those who do evil.” –Matthew 13:41

Jesus’ parables were always good, but some of them are kind of scary. Take, for instance, the parable of the wheat field: A righteous man sows wheat in a field, but while everyone is sleeping, his enemy comes and sows weeds in it, too. When the plants grow up and become evident for what they are, the field hands ask whether they should go pull out all the weeds, but the righteous man says no—that might hurt the young wheat plants. Let them grow together to the harvest, and then go pull the weeds and burn them, and gather the wheat into the barn.

I always read those verses for the big picture they represent: Two kinds of people. Heaven and Hell. Reward and damnation. Scary stuff.

But as I was reading this chapter just now, I felt like the Lord showed it to me from a different angle. It’s not just the big picture--people who are weeds and people who are wheat, and the eternal fates each can expect. The Kingdom of God—the people of God—have both weeds and wheat growing in our hearts as individuals. We are wheat, but God is intent on removing the works of the enemy—“everything that causes sin” -- from our hearts so we can be gathered into His barn blemishless, whole, shining and pure. He doesn’t despise us for our woundedness and immaturity—He loves us. He knows we have to go through a process of growing up, and He wants to make us whole and perfect and well, because He is gentle and He is good.

And somehow, there’s nothing scary about that at all.

–Karla Dial

PrayFit guest writer Karla Dial is a freelance journalist based in Colorado Springs, Colo., and has been an avid fitness enthusiast for 10 years. You can check out her PrayFit workout journal by clicking here.

PRAYFIT Q&A: WHY WEIGHT?

Q: Great stuff all week on the various "tools of the trade" -- barbells, dumbbells and cables. But I don't weight train. Can't I just rely on my daily run or the occasional pick-up game to get me super fit?

A: I suppose we got ahead of ourselves. This entire week we've been talking about all the gems of the gym, but we could be taking some things for granted. Many of you might not yet feel the need nor have any interest in weight training. You run, swim, walk or do other forms of exercise. And for that, we're grateful. However, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't highlight the all-important "why" to weight train as well as some of the things you could be missing out on.

We believe this to be true: training with resistance is the most effective way to exact drastic and lasting changes in body composition. Put another way, if you're really really looking to build a stronger, leaner, healthier body, then it's time to end the wait for weights. But that is the bottom line -- here are the broad strokes on the benefits of weight training.

Increased muscle tone Increased strength Stronger bones Higher resting metabolism Better posture Decreased blood pressure

The list could go on and on, but just like everything else at PrayFit, training is not just about how the body looks, but how it functions and allows us to better serve God. When you consider all of the benefits of weight training, we hope all this talk about cables, dumbbells and barbells could be something you "pick up" in the near future. When that happens, let us know.

>> SHARE A RECIPE: We're looking for a few good recipes! If you fancy yourself a healthy eater, drop us the "how to" on a few of your favorite dishes in the PrayFit nutrition forum.

Originally posted 3/13/10.