Flab

by Dan Jones

I recently bought a treadmill, or as it otherwise known, a “clothes rack.”

Like most Americans, I could stand to lose a few pounds.

Okay, truth be told, there is about 40% more of me than there needs to be.

I am not alone. The World Health Organization reports that 74.1% of Americans are overweight or obese. That’s the highest rate in the English-speaking world. The rates of obesity in America are actually higher among our low-income people than they are for the rest of the population.

So, it’s really no surprise that the most common New Year’s resolution in America is to lose weight.

The second-most common? Exercise.

Those are also the most-commonly broken New Year’s Resolutions. Statistics vary slightly, but it’s safe to say that around 80% of people who make a New Year’s Resolution will fail –usually in less than a month.

So, we are a very flabby people and we continue to be flabby.

But we are even flabbier when it comes to our spiritual health.

It’s not unusual to hear SRN News on Kinship Christian Radio report on polling by the Barna Group as to our Biblical literacy.

Statistics found on Albert Mohler’s website indicate that less than half of all adults can name the four gospels and many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. He says, “According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments.”

“Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms,” he writes. “According to 82 percent of Americans, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse. Those identified as born-again Christians did better–by one percent. A majority of adults think the Bible teaches that the most important purpose in life is taking care of one’s family.”

“Some of the statistics are enough to perplex even those aware of the problem,” he continues. “A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.”

In other words, it’s abundantly clear that the vast majority of our friends and neighbors don’t know that we are engaged in a day-to-day spiritual battle.  They are walking into that battle each day without the one weapon given us to defeat our real enemy and, even if they did know, they are too spiritually flabby to even lift the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (See Ephesians 6:10-17.)

And that’s one of the wonderful thing about Kinship Christian Radio. The teaching you hear by Alistair Begg, Mike Fabarez, Dr. David Jeremiah, James McDonald, and others all help you with your spiritual fitness program through solid Biblical preaching and teaching. Even the announcers weave a tapestry of the Scriptures in between the songs they play.

So, while I will not make a New Year’s Resolution about my freshly-acquired motorized clothes rack, I will resolve to read and study the Bible more often and to help others do the same –and I am happy to support and encourage Kinship Christian Radio in its daily mission.

Today’s Praise

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1