The Daily Dose w/Pastor Chad Reisig

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I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life. ~ John 8:12 (NLT) I had an incident which happened to me a while back that was both painful and a bit embarrassing. Back then I lived only a hundred yards or so from the church where I pastored, so I often times ventured over to the building to do miscellaneous things. Often times this involved going over to open or close all of the windows (there’s a lot of them) to either help the church building cool off or keep the warmness in. One evening, a thunderstorm was coming through the area and I knew that the windows at the church were open. So, I decided to go over and get them closed up, lest the wind blow things around inside the church or slam windows shut (We already had one break due to a previous windstorm). Though it was dark outside, I had walked this path many times, so I didn’t grab a flashlight. I headed out into the dark, trotting towards the church. At about the halfway point, things went very wrong. My toe tripped on something unseen and caused my body to fall at a rapid pace toward the ground. In fact, I fell so fast, I wasn’t able to get my hands out to brace myself. I ended up doing a header into the gravel road I was trotting down – skinning up my knee, wrist, and face in the process. So, there I lay bleeding and in a lot of pain. Luckily the wounds healed and nothing was broken. But, next time I venture out into the darkness, I’m taking a light with me. When it comes to living this life in this dark world, we have two choices. We can stumble around in the darkness, or we can actually allow the light of Jesus to shine into it, lighting our path as we go. As Jesus stated in our verse today, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” So, you have a choice to make. You can choose to navigate this life without Jesus, and you will stumble and fall. You will get hurt and you will never find your way to eternal life. Or you can walk in the light of a relationship with Jesus. Walking side-by-side He will point out the trip hazards. He will light up the path in front of you. He will help to minimize the self-inflicted pain we experience. He will lead us to our eternal home with Him.

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." ~ John 14:6 (NLT) When I was a freshman in college, long before the advent of the Internet, smart phones, and GPS, my girlfriend and I decided to take a road trip into San Francisco to see the sights and maybe do some shopping. Right before we left, my girlfriend told me she needed to stop by the bank to grab some cash for our trip. I asked which bank and she rattled off a name that I wasn’t familiar with. I asked if she knew where this bank was located in the greater San Francisco metro area. Her response? “Not really, but how hard can it be to find it?” Let me tell you. We spent what seemed like hours looking for this bank. It was nowhere to be found. I was getting really angry; she was getting majorly defensive. Let’s just say that the words we were using towards each other were neither loving nor encouraging. We were so upset with each other that neither one of us wanted to spend any more time together. So, I turned the car around and drove back to the college and dropped her off at her dorm. The trip was off. Far too often, our spiritual life can feel like that trip. Now, I’m not talking about a trip to see the sights and get some city swag. Instead, I’m talking about our Christian journey. Notice that I call it a journey, because that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Though we may know the ultimate destination (Heaven), we have no idea how to get there. The only being in the universe who actually knows every twist, every turn, every hill, and every valley that we must take to join Him in heavenly splendor is Jesus. But, here’s the deal. He wants to journey with us. He doesn’t want to just give us a roadmap and say “good luck.” He wants to be with us as we see the sights. He wants to help re-direct us when we take a wrong turn. He wants to point out the wonders of His creation along the way. He wants to build a solid, intimate relationship with us which is built over time and experiences. This is why He gave us our verse today, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” In other words, unless He is along for the ride, we have no shot at getting to our final destination in Heaven. Only with Jesus joining us on the journey can we experience the perfection which awaits.

Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." ~ John 6:35 (NLT) It’s one of life’s ironies. In the USA, we tend to be obsessed with our weight. I mean, just look at the dieting industry. There are tons of diet plan options out there (Paleo, South Beach, Keto, etc.). There are diet commercials on TV, on the Internet, radio, magazines, newspapers, and basically everywhere the marketing industry thinks we’ll be looking. The diet industry rakes in billions of dollars per year off of people wanting to lose weight and get in shape. Here’s the ironic part: The majority of people in the USA are either overweight or obese. (Read here for more: https://bit.ly/1nL8c3i [https://bit.ly/1nL8c3i]) In other words, we’re spending billions of dollars per year on dieting, but we’re not actually following through with the diet plan. Beyond our physical issues, there is also a problem when it comes to our spiritual diet. The vast majority of Americans own a Bible, but very few actually read it. (Check here for more info: https://bit.ly/2oDFwTN [https://bit.ly/2oDFwTN]) In other words, we’re good at saying we need the Bible, but we don’t actually follow through with reading it. This results in people whose lives are spiritually out of shape; dying. Jesus put in simple terms how this needs to work. As He stated in our verse today, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” Our lives are built to be spiritually hungry. But the stats don’t lie. We fill our lives with junk food rather than the actual bread of life. We spend hours watching TV, gaming, and social media, rather than spending quality time learning about our Savior. We fill our lives with things that replace the spiritual nutrition we need. As a result, our spiritual lives gets out of whack. Spiritual disease takes over and we begin to die spiritually. Family, it’s time for a diet. Dust off that Bible that’s been sitting on your shelf. Open the pages and just start reading. Start simple. Read a chapter or two per day. Read it slowly. Ask questions: What is God saying here? How does this apply to my life? Pray about what you’ve read. Ask God for His wisdom to understand. Get your diet lined up to help you regain spiritual health.

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ~ Romans 6:13 (NLT) We have an epidemic in the world today. Because of our greater connectivity, stress doesn’t just come into our lives every now and again. It streams through every device we own and into our lives. We hear about bad news through our phones the moment it happens. We get called out on social media. Shaming has gone from the school yard to the globe. The keyboard permits people to say things about us globally which they would never say in person. In short, we are saturated with messages of stress everywhere we turn in the modern world. So, tip # 1 is to take a Sabbath rest from your devices. Stop the flow of stress. Tip # 2 is to get off your rear. One of the greatest issues with mental health today is that we as a society have stopped exercising. As a result, we are left alone with our thoughts, dwelling on the negative day after day. It eats away at us. It leads us to sinful behavior in an attempt to relieve the pain. We dwell on the evil rather than allowing our bodies to heal through natural stress relief. I don’t have time to detail all of the science here, but Google “benefits of exercise.” The top results will tell you about stress, anxiety, and depression relief. I believe the issue goes beyond just the physical, however. I believe not taking care of our bodies is a spiritual one. As Paul tells us in our verse today, “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” Did you catch that last part? Use your whole body to bring glory to God. But, can we say we’re doing that if we don’t keep it healthy? Here's my challenge: For the next two weeks, exercise each day. Get your heart rate up. So, go for a walk at good pace, or run. Go for a hike that involves some incline. Hit the weights. Just do something which elevates your heart rate for 30 minutes. Oh, and as you do it, either listen to some good praise music or spend some time talking with God. Invite him into your workout. The results will be obvious: Better mood; better sleep; more positivity; and on and on.