Healthy Habits and Finding Your Rescue Mission – Purity 1877
Purity 1877 02/03/2026 Purity 1877 Audio Podcast
Purity 1877 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of blue skies over the green grassland fields that lie at the junction of Waite & “Freedom Road” comes to us from yours truly as I paused to capture this simple scene of beauty back on May 1st, 2024.
Well, it’s Tuesday and although I might feel like screaming “May Day, May Day!” because of the persistent cold temperatures in the upstate New York, it’s only February 3rd, and while the predictions of the community of famous ground hogs, (Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck, General Beauregard Lee, Buckeye Chuck & Dunkirk Dave), wasn’t unanimous, the majority (3 out of 5 of those listed here) opinion is that we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Not too surprising, really, Winter in February and March? You don’t say!
Anyway, as much as my seasonal affective disorder tendencies would love to drag me into a midwinters seasonal depression, I am feeling great lately and am motivated to kick it into high gear and institute some new healthy habits to keep those winter blues away and to be more physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually fit when spring does finally come. Good habits help us to reach and maintain a good emotional and physical state that makes us more resilient and gives us a higher quality of life. So let me encourage you to look at the following areas of your life to determine whether or not some good habits could help:
Sleep – It is recommended that Adults (18-64) get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, with some individuals feeling best with only 6.5 hours of sleep. Are you getting enough sleep? My schedule burns the midnight oil, and even though I feel I don’t need as much sleep as the average person and want to unwind in the later hours, I will try to go to bed to get closer to the recommended average.
Exercise – It’s recommended that adults aim for at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week, along with muscle-strengthening exercises at least 2 days a week. My 5-day morning workout routine (which incorporates both cardio and muscle-strengthening exercises) gives me 225 minutes weekly. But due to My recent December/New years weight gain, and the fact that I now have an office job, I am going to be more intentional about adding more minutes of cardio with stair climbing or taking walks on my breaks to give me more minutes of cardio and to aggressively take back what I lost (or get rid of what I gained).
Diet/Calories – While there are all kinds of different diets and suggestions of how much one should eat in the percentages of each area of macros, it is generally accepted that most American adults need roughly 2,000 calories a day – I shoot for less than that, and as long as I track what I eat I find that I can actually wield some self-control. For me, awareness is the key to maintaining a healthy diet, and I feel much better when I do. As of right now, I have developed a plan that works for me and is decreasing my weight, so I will continue.
Getting a little more sleep, a little more exercise, and being more aware of what we consume might not seem like a lot, but if we make these shifts now, they can lead us to be healthier when spring finally does come.
Of course, I didn’t mention spiritual matters… I recommend a daily spiritual practice of Bible Study, prayer, meditation (thinking about living by faith), and talking to God on a regular basis. There is always work to be done in our spiritual lives if we want to find peace and pursue our purpose, and we should make our spiritual needs a priority as much as our physical health.
Speaking of our purpose, the In Touch with Dr. Chales Stanly devotion for today addresses that topic, so I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us all to serve the Lord more than we serve ourselves.
“Service Is an Acknowledgment
Each follower of Christ is called to serve.
Psalms 100:1-2
Who is a servant of God? We are! Some people think that believers are separated into two groups: servants (individuals in full-time ministry) and laypeople. The Bible makes no such distinction. Instead, Paul—a tentmaker by trade—reminds the Ephesians that believers are saved so that they might serve (Ephesians 2:10).
If there were no other reason to serve God besides gratitude for salvation, that would be cause enough. We are rescued and given eternal life along with the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence. Our service is an acknowledgment of all the Father did for us by sending His Son.
Many people, believers included, serve the big “I.” In other words, they’re continually thinking, What do I find satisfying and pleasing? What do Ineed to be happy and prosperous? Here’s a harsh reality and a simple way to remember it: If “I” is our master, we are committing I-dolatry. Anything given first place over God—including selfish desires—is an idol.
Service isn’t just a good idea. God calls us to be servants so we can each invest our life in an eternally valuable purpose: the salvation of others and their subsequent discipleship for His glory. Our job may seem small or our limitations great, but the truth is that we’re all servants of Christ with a role in the kingdom. – Charles Stanley
Amen. I love this message! “If I is our master, we are committing I-dolatry !
Stanley also rightly points out that the Bible calls all of us to serve God’s kingdom, not just those called to full-time ministry. As much as it is important to have faithful men of God to lead churches to minister and to equip the body of Christ, Jesus’ original ministry sent disciples out in pairs to serve God’s kingdom.
So let’s go! Let’s be those ambassadors to the kingdom that we are made to be and represent Jesus wherever we go. Wherever God has planted us, people should know that we are Christians and understand that we have a faith that goes beyond church on Sunday.
Our local churches need helping hands to do the work that flows through that gathering, so we should fill the roles that call to us. But we should also consider that the rest of the world needs Jesus, too, so we should also consider looking beyond the four walls of our church building to find other ways to do good works that will benefit others and give us a chance to represent Jesus.
When we give ourselves to the service of God’s kingdom in whatever ways we can, we will experience the peace and joy that comes from living out our kingdom purposes, and we just might be used by God to save Christians from bondage to sin or the unsaved from eternal damnation.
Our simple call to service could turn into a rescue mission. Our decision to follow Jesus could save others, but it also could save us from a selfish life of idolatry and sin.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
John 15:1–8
John 15:1 (NKJV) I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Today’s verse is the first of three passages of scripture that fall under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
12. Abide in Jesus Christ, the vine, through whom alone you can bear much fruit, to glorify God.
Today’s Bible verses are the words of Jesus, who informs us that He is the vine and that His Father (God) is the vinedresser. While this is somewhat cryptic at face value, when we understand that Jesus is telling us that we are to spend time with Him (through presence, prayer, and study), we understand that He wasn’t just giving us a list of recommended practices to follow. Jesus wants us. He wants our time and attention, and we should really consider giving the Lord of our lives what He wants.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today, we continue sharing from “Pause for Power” By Warren Wiersbe.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Wiersbe’s books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 11 – Get Out of Babylon! – Read Isaiah 45–48
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.- Isaiah 48:10
The Jews had become comfortable and complacent in their Babylonian captivity. They had followed the counsel of Jeremiah (Jer. 29:4–7) and had built houses, planted gardens, and raised families; and it would not be easy for them to pack up and go back to the Holy Land. But that was where they belonged.
Had they obeyed the Lord in the first place, they would have experienced peace and not war (Isa. 48:18–19), but it was not too late. He had put them into the furnace to refine them and prepare them for their future work. “Leave Babylon” was God’s command (v. 20). God promised that He would go before them and prepare the way, and they had nothing to fear.
One would think that the Jews would have been eager to return to their land to see God do new and great things for them. But they had grown accustomed to the security of bondage and had forgotten the challenges of freedom. The church today can easily grow complacent with its comfort and affluence. God may have to put us into the furnace to remind us that we are here to be servants and not consumers or spectators.
Something to Ponder: When were some times you could have avoided a lot of trouble if you had obeyed God in the first place?[1]
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[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Pause for Power: A 365-Day Journey through the Scriptures, 2nd Ed., Year in the Word Series (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010).
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