Does your faith change your life or justify it?

By Daniel Francis

The older I get, the more I realise that staying fit and healthy is about what you do in the gym, yes, but it has a lot more to do with what you do outside of the gym. You can weight train all you want, run as many miles as you want, but if your diet does not match your efforts in the gym, it can all be for nothing.

Today, a year ago, I made a concerted effort to allow the gym to change my life. I was the heaviest I had ever been, and it showed because I was told I looked like someone’s overweight uncle.

I took that to heart and revitalised my exercise ambitions. As you go to the gym consistently, you tend to see the same faces. You grow accustomed to seeing them.

It seemed one such individual was Paul. Eighty per cent of the time that I was in the gym, I would see Paul. It seemed our gym schedules synched up. Eventually, we became fast friends and decided to workout together. This helped us stay consistent and less likely to miss any workouts.

Over the first six months, I saw a transformation in my body, and I was pleased with my progress. I had more energy, and I could see the growth in my overall musculature.

Paul, however, was a different story. He had been attending the gym months before my comeback and he was weight training right alongside me. We were doing the same exercises, albeit with different weights, and we were both pretty consistent. Paul looked more or less the same as I met him all those months ago.

One day he praised me for how far I had come, and he was upset that he was not getting results. He felt like maybe it was the gym’s fault or his genetics.

I wanted to find out what we were doing that was different, so we exchanged notes, and it became apparent.

Paul’s diet did not align with his efforts in the gym. Paul loved to eat out and he had a sweet tooth. Whenever he saw something outside of his diet, he justified eating it because he was weight training so often so it would be fine. Paul let the gym justify his life’s choices.

On the other hand, it was different for me. When I left the gym, and I was tempted by my favourite fast foods or snacks, I would tell myself that I could not have that because I went to the gym. I would tell myself that I need to go to bed early so I can get enough rest or else I would minimise the work I put in at the gym. I let the gym change my life and that was the clear distinction.

Let us bring this same idea into a faith perspective. We all read the same Bible, we all go to church, we all pray, and we are all developing our faith, but how many of us allow our faith to change us versus allowing our faith to justify our lives?

Why is it we read the same scripture, but he believes in miracles, but I don’t? Why is it that we go to the same church, hear the same homily, and sing the same songs but she can avoid sin and almost lives separately from the secular world, but I can’t.

Why is it that we do the same practices, but you seem to have more faith than me? Is it the fault of the world, the Church, or maybe I am saying the wrong prayers? No, it’s because you don’t take your faith with you. You don’t let your faith change your life, but you allow it to justify your life.

You go to church on a Sunday so that’s enough, yet you swear profusely and mistreat those around you. You read your Bible each morning but that is the only time during the rest of your day that you think of God or utter anything about Him.

You pray for all your loved ones and for a better, more faith-based life. Yet when God sets you on a particular path, you doubt Him and choose another path.

Faith is more than what we do inside the church and in those moments of worship. It is also what we do in our day-to-day lives.

Do you take your faith with you everywhere? If not, think about why that is. The real question is, ‘Do you allow your faith to change your life, or do you use your faith to justify your life?’.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

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