Bob Wriedt

I love reading “best of” book lists this time of year from others, so here is mine, offered with a number of caveats: I don’t read as many books as I wish I did, I don’t read as widely as I think I should, and I am often years late to a book.

That out of the way, here are my favorite books I read this year:

My book of the year/favorite book that integrates Christianity and the social sciences – Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson (Crossway, 2023)

I found this book because it topped so many “Best of” lists last year that I eventually picked it up, even though the title didn’t do anything for me. Boy, was I wrong. Almost every page I said out loud, “How did I not know this?”

It is a difficult book to describe: One part history, one part social science, one part history of philosophy, one part biblical theology. Wilson is a pastor (albeit as an Oxford grad he one of the most well-read pastors I’ve ever heard of) and writes with a breadth of knowledge that is staggering and a pastoral tone that is accessible.

Favorite book about why technology leaves us wanting without God– The Life We‘re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, by Andy Crouch (Convergent Press, 2022)

This was a very close second behind Wilson’s book for my favorite book of the year.

I try to read everything Crouch writes because I find him so insightful and helpful. In this book, his description of the pressures the technological age put on us have really helped me put words to my experience. Not every chapter in the book has aged well even though it only came out two years ago (my, how AI changed in a short time) but the concepts of “superhero” technology has stuck with me almost daily since I read it.

If you have benefited from Jonathan Haidt’s observations in books like Anxious Generation about the impact of technology on our soul but wish you could hear someone address these things from a distinctively Christian frame, this book could be what you are looking for.

The best thing I can say about this book, though, it that it was a beautiful apologetic for why our soul longs for God.

Favorite book about pastoral leadership – Authority: How Godly Rule Protects the Vulnerable, Strengthens Communities, and Promotes Human Flourishing, by Jonathan Leeman (Crossway, 2023)

The last few years of publishing have included a number of books by historians of evangelicalism in the United States that air the dirty laundry of authority gone badly. I’m not opposed to those sorts of books (there are things that needed to come to light), but they left me with the uneasy sense that authority was itself the problem. Yet I couldn’t help the fact that my life was filled with roles of authority (as a parent, boss, pastor, and so on).

Leeman’s book struck a beautiful note describing why good authority is necessary for all of us, while also recognizing the danger and destruction that comes from authority wrongly claimed or used.

Runner up: Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church by Michael Kruger (Zondervan, 2022)

Favorite book to read with my kids: The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson

Another book that I heard recommended so many times that I eventually relented and starting reading with my nine-year old. I’m glad I did, both for his sake and mine. Peterson brings you into the internal world of the thirteen-year old, Christ-figure hero of the story, which gave ample paternal opportunities to talk with my son about how he might feel if he were in this situation.

Favorite commentary on Romans – Romans (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series), by Frank Thielman (Zondervan, 2018)

I preached through Romans this year at our church, which meant my desk was covered by Romans resources all year. This is the one I came back to most often and found most helpful to use.

Most of that credit goes to Thielman’s writing and scholarship, with a minority share of the credit to the Zondervan series in general for an excellent job laying out the ZECNT series for readability.

Favorite book about the goodness of Jesus – Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, by Rebcecca McLaughlin (The Gospel Coalition, 2019)

My men’s life group read a few books together this year, and this was my favorite. I had read parts of it in years past but this was the first time cover-to-cover with a group. McLaughlin is obviously brilliant (with a Cambridge Ph.D. to prove it), but her writing is accessible and easy to follow, while still treating the writer with respect.

The book is formatted as a series of objections to the Christian faith from the position of an informed skeptic, with a one-chapter response to each.

McLaughlin’s responses are thoughtful, kind, relentless, and always Jesus-centered (as in, every chapter includes a specific and lengthly discussion of a parable or story from the life of Jesus). I pray I will have the opportunity to give this book to a friend considering Jesus soon.

As a way to help me grieve the loss of a theological mentor in my life, I put together this brief guide to his writing and speaking. I’d love for you to benefit from some of these resources, as I have.

Sermons – GospelinLife.com – Keller preached often and broadly, so some of his sermons are elsewhere, but the best place to find them is at his long-time home church, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

For years, they were behind a paywall. I still remember the year that Becca gave me a year-long membership to them for my birthday. Thankfully, a few months ago, a donor enabled Redeemer to make them free.

Books

Keller’s capacity to connect the gospel with all of life was remarkable. The result was a wide-ranging corpus, with helpful books on biblical studies (such as The Prodigal God and The Prodigal Prophet), ministry practice (Center Church, Preaching), Christian living (The Meaning of Marriage, Forgive, Prayer, and God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life).

If someone was going to read one Keller book, I’d encourage you to read The Prodigal God, and become as enamored by the gospel of Jesus as Keller was.

If you’re struggling with questions of whether you can believe Christianity, read The Reason for God.

If you want to have a distinctively Christian vision for your marriage, read The Meaning of Marriage.

If you want to understand why the cultural goals of money, sex, and power fail to satisfy, read Counterfeit Gods.

If you want to understand how the gospel shapes justice and generosity, read Ministries of Mercy or Generous Justice.

If you want to prepare well for the suffering of this life, read Walking with God in Pain and Suffering.

If you want help thinking through your career as a Christian, read Every Good Endeavor.

If you want to understand his ministry philosophy, read Preaching or Center Church (the longest of his books and probably the least helpful to laypeople).

If you would like a daily devotional, read God’s Wisdom for Live (on Proverbs) or The Songs of Jesus (on Psalms).

If you want help developing a biblical theology of a book, read The King’s Cross (on Mark) or The Prodigal Prophet (on Jonah).

Keller gave a series of interviews to Mark Dever almost a decade ago, which included a long-form discussion of his writing ministry (up to that point).

If you search Keller’s name on Amazon, you’ll also find a number of books that are published in his name based on messages he gave or curriculum he wrote when he was younger, such as Judges for You or The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. (Many churches retain the copyright of materials written by their staff people while on the job). These are “genuine Keller,” but they represent a less thorough standard of thought and writing than his long-form books.

Side note: Keller was a pastor for decades without doing much published writing. His D.Min. doctoral project was published into a book (Ministries of Mercy) in his late 30’s, but then he waited twenty years before publishing his next book (The Reason for God).

Articles, Organizations, and Podcasts

It’s impossible to divorce Keller from his adopted home in New York City. He talked about his ministry context often in his preaching, seeking to reach the secular people around him. This would sometimes result in his writing being highlighted in media sources that usually ignored evangelicals. Two years ago, already diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he wrote for The Atlantic about mortality.

This isn’t to say that Keller softened his message for secular audiences. He was a minister in the conservative Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and founded two significant parachurch organizations (Redeemer City to City and The Gospel Coalition) that have robust statements of faith and ambitious ministry goals.

In recent years, the trend to interview format podcasts have given us a chance to listen in on Keller’s conversations with his friends, such as talking about forgiveness with Russell Moore or the future of evangelicalism with the crew from Mere Fidelity.

Since I know this is the time of year many of us think about what would be different if we lost weight, here are 6 things that did (and did not) change for me:

1. I felt better (but not perfect)

When I was heavy, my weight was a convenient explanation for many aspects of aging. “If I just lose weight,” I thought, “my knees won’t hurt, my back won’t hurt, I’ll sleep better… ”

So, did it work?

Yeah, sort of. My knees are mostly better. My back doesn’t hurt as often. I don’t toss and turn as much in bed. My fitbit tells me my resting heart rate went from about 65 to 56 beats per minute, so I guess that’s good.

But it’s only a matter of degrees. I’m still 40. Losing weight doesn’t make up for aging altogether.

2. I’m a better hockey player (but it didn’t help my hand eye coordination)

I play on a Bronze-level recreation ice hockey league team and (for years) I’ve figured that my weight was the biggest barrier from becoming a better player.

Now that I’ve lost all that weight, did it help my hockey playing?

Somewhat. I’m in much better cardio shape, so I get to lose pucks better and don’t make as many sloppy mistakes from fatigue.

But it turns out my weight didn’t have anything to do with hand eye coordination, anticipating the play, or the muscle memory qualities of any sport that only come with practicing a lot in your formative years.

3. I was encouraged by how I looked (but I still don’t look like Brad Pitt)

Last year I wrote about why and how I lost the weight. One of the things I mentioned was wanting to be attractive for my spouse. And she’s been very encouraging (as she was before I lost weight).

But a weird thing happened I didn’t consider when I was heavier: there are a lot of parts of my body I can feel self-conscious about beyond my weight.

For me, fat was the lightning rod when I looked in the mirror for years. But shame can find other things to object to, as well (facial asymmetry, pasty skin, wrinkles…. I could go on but this is getting depressing).

I would like to think that I haven’t been shaped by our culture’s obsession with unrealistic standards of beauty, but…

4 People were encouraging (but also weird)

Losing weight has resulted in a lot of kind comments from friends, family, and acquaintances. It’s been meaningful to me when people have noticed the hard work that went into these lifestyle changes. If you’ve said something, thank you.

But it’s also unveiled some uncomfortable comments from people. Some people have expressed feeling threatened by my losing weight (“Stop, you’re making me feel bad”). Others have congratulated me in a way that feels very critical of a former version of me. It’s a weird thing.

And others haven’t said anything. Which should be fine, but I noticed (especially in the early months) how much I craved those kind comments.

Bottom line: If you want to lose weight so people will notice/compliment you, just know that’s a double-edged sword.

5. I got used to healthy eating (but I still like french fries)

For my most of life, I was uncontained in my junk food eating. The idea that I would be satisfied with the type of food I eat now seemed crazy. I needed sugar, saturated fats, and a belly full of refined carbs.

After changing what I ate, I can honestly say I enjoy a lot of foods that I didn’t a couple of years ago. And there are foods that I previously enjoyed that I now find “too sweet,” a phrase I previously found ridiculous.

But, oh goodness, on the times that I do eat french fries – they are the perfect food.

6. Clothes fit better (but I still don’t have great style)

When I was at my heaviest, I was on the very margins of normal clothes, wearing XXL shirts and 40×34 pants, and even those fit tightly at times. I’m now down to LT or XL shirts and 33×34 pants, which makes clothes easier to find, as well as less painful to try on clothes and look in the mirror.

But whatever fantasy I had that losing weight would make me look cooler in my clothes has gone out the window. I still mostly wear clothes I bought at Costco, unsure how to pair outfits beyond “jeans and a shirt.”

Below are my favorite seven books that I read this year. None were published this year and I certainly don’t claim any authority to judge which books were the “best” this year. Of the books I read this year, these were simply my favorites.

7. Grant by Ron Chernow

Better known for his biography on Alexander Hamilton (for very good reasons, given how wonderful the musical is), I actually enjoyed Chernow’s biography on Grant more. Perhaps that is because war can be more gripping than monetary policy.

6. On Writing by Stephen King

Stephen King is (admittedly) an odd figure for a pastor to find help in writing sermons (though his daughter is a Unitarian cleric), but this book was helpful for me to read mid-career after wrestling with why writing is so frustrating for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to young pastors, but if you’re middle-aged, struggle with writer’s block, and can live with King’s occasional profanity, it’s an interesting read.

5. CS Lewis: A Life by Alister McGrath

Biographies on CS Lewis are the evangelical equivalent to biographies on Abraham Lincoln for American historians – everyone seems to write one. But I still enjoyed it a great deal, especially with McGrath’s excellent writing style. I especially appreciated McGrath’s willingness to discuss issues in Lewis’ life that those who knew him personally might have found uncomfortable (finances, sex, etc) without shame or excuse. Lewis is a hero for me, and this book somehow humanized him without shaming him.

4. Beyond Racial Gridlock by George Yancey

There have been a number of excellent books written on race in American Christianity in recent years. This isn’t one of them. Yancey’s book is from 2006 and therefore escapes (at least somewhat) being a prisoner of the moment. He’s even-handed, insightful, and non-reactionary. My favorite aspect of the book is Yancey’s attempt to construct a meaningfully Christian approach to race. We read this book together as a Grace staff earlier this year.

3. Created in God’s Image by Anthony Hoekema

This year our elders composed a teaching position on the doctrine of the image of God with this book as our guide. I’m embarrassed to say how little I understood of this topic prior to this year.

2. Parenting by Paul David Tripp

I’ve had this on my nightstand for over a year, but it was a new dads group at Grace that sparked my reading it. It’s excellent, as is so much that Tripp writes.

1. All the British fantasy children’s books in the Christian tradition (Tolkein, Lewis, and Rowling)

Alright, this is a cheat, I admit, as the Rings trilogy, the Narnia chronicles, and the Potter tales compose 17 books. But early in 2021 was a tough time for all of us. Listening to these audiobooks while on walks (in the case of Tolkein and Rowling) and reading Narnia to my son was a helpful respite.

Last week, someone I know from Grace Seal Beach sent me a text asking if I’ve heard of people claiming the vaccine for COVID-19 is the biblical mark of the Beast. He forwarded me some sermons from a speaker at a Calvary Chapel church in HI and asked if I would be willing to respond, since this speaker’s claims were causing his mother to not want to get the vaccine.

Anticipating that he’s not the only one who might be exposed to this incorrect interpretation of Revelation, I’ve included my response here, with names changed.

Hi Darius, 

Thanks for your patience. I listened to Mr Farag’s 1/10 “Bible Prophecy Update” in its entirety, as well as sections of other weeks before writing this response. But I haven’t listened to all of them so I suppose that it’s possible that some of the things I bring up here are better addressed by other messages of his. 

First off, let me say that it is out of my affection for you and Charissa, and through you for your mother, that I write this response. I appreciate your desire to honor her well and point her to trustworthy resources. If this speaker’s (I’m sorry, I can’t call him a pastor based on what he said here) comments were true about the vaccine being a damnable offense before God, I would be truly taken aback from taking the vaccine, too. 

I do my best to find common ground with speakers I disagree with because people usually have good reasons for what they say and believe even if they are wrong. And there probably are good reasons for Mr. Farag’s emotional response to the vaccine, though I do not think that he is reading the Bible accurately. He indicated toward the end of the 1/10 message that someone in his family suffered a vaccine injury; maybe that is the source of his animus toward them, I don’t know. 

Also, the segment of churches he’s associated with (Calvary Chapel, a denomination that I was a part of when I was a missionary in Rome and who my college roommate was a pastor’s kid of, so I do know it fairly well), makes end times prophecy a foundational part of their ministry. That is, since Calvary Chapel started in the late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s, one of the defining qualities of Calvary Chapel churches is an interest in identifying and naming end time events. Of course, over the last fifty years or so all of those “predictions” have been proven incorrect – Gorbachev was not the antichrist despite the mark on his head; apache helicopters were not the flying beasts from Revelation; and on and on. But when you have a weekly “Bible Prophecy Update” message to give each week, you always need to come up with something to say. This can lead to finding things in the news that sound like prophecy but are not.

In spite of those common points, I think there are very good reasons for rejecting Mr Farag’s conclusions. 

1. His understanding of the mark of the Beast is wildly speculative while also ignoring huge segments of Revelation. 

He attempts to use etymology (that is, where words come from) to prove connections between words in Revelation and their application today. This is a blustering way to impress people in sermons, but it’s a terrible way to interpret the Bible. In fact, we’re actively warned against it in seminary. Just because a word sounds like something in English today, or the root of a Greek word became used for a different English word 2000 years later, that has no impact on what the original writer intended to convey to the original reader. 

One of the principles that should guide someone’s reading of the Bible is: “Would this have made sense to the author of the book?” That is, if you could ask the Apostle John (who wrote Revelation), “Is the mark of the beast meant to be a vaccine about changing DNA?”, his response would have been “What are you talking about? I don’t know about DNA or vaccines!” How could John have written about vaccines when he didn’t know about them? The response to this is usually some form of, “God is the inspiration of Scripture – he probably meant for there to be a double meaning that John didn’t understand.” This is possible, I suppose, but I do not know of any evidence that something in the New Testament was fulfilled in a way that would have been nonsense to the original writer. 

That said, even if you leave those things aside, there are wild problems with Mr. Farag’s view: 

1. The mark of the Beast is a statement of affiliation with the Beast. If the vaccine is the mark of the Beast, who is the beast? Similarly, who is the antichrist (who is coordinating with the Beast in Revelation) in this scenario? Is it President Trump (the country’s leader during the development of the vaccine)? Is it President Biden (the country’s leader now)? There doesn’t seem like a logical connection between taking the vaccine and pledging fidelity to any one person. 

2. The mark of the Beast is a connection with the number 666, which the Bible says is a name (that ties into how Greek letters represented names. In this case, 666 stands for the letters NERO – the name of the Roman emperor who persecuted Christians). What on earth would the vaccine have to do with NERO? 

3. In Revelation, the choice to take the mark is an active choice to rebel against God and choose the Beast. How would choosing to take the vaccine be an act of rebellion against God? There is nothing in Scripture forbidding vaccines (they were unknown at the time – his attempts to connect them to sorcery are… foolish). So, why would taking the vaccine be an act of rebellion against God? 

2. His understanding of what the vaccine does and how it works is just fundamentally wrong. 

I’m hesitant to get too far into these critiques because none of us (him, me, or you) are microbiologists. But my college science classes are enough in the back of my mind still to identify that his claims about what DNA is, how it works, etc were rubbish. 

Even if this vaccine altered your DNA (which is not exactly how it works, but whatever), how does that make you “un-human”? There are people I meet all the time with slightly different DNA than me (in fact, every person I meet has slightly different DNA than me) – are they all “less human”? Do people with Down’s Syndrome or other developmental disabilities tied to genetic mutations (that is, DNA changes from “the norm”) make them un-human? Gosh, I hope not. 

Okay, and even if modifying DNA is an egregious sin against God (which I don’t think it is, but that’s my understanding of what he’s saying), why would this vaccine be a mark of the beast rather than the annual flu shot, the polio vaccine, etc. My guess is that he’d say that all vaccines are problematic, but (and I’m being a bit snarky here) you can’t say that they’re all “marks” of the beast – there’s only one “mark” in Revelation. 

3. His view of being “pro-life” is unbalanced. 

By unbalanced, I mean out of proportion. Yes, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine (which is not currently on the market) used a derivation of cells derived from an aborted fetus from fifty years ago. To my knowledge, though, they are the only one. (If you’d like a source on this, you can consult the interview Russell Moore and Dr. Francis Collins, who is an evangelical Christian and the director of the NIH, which was responsible for developing the vaccine) did together.) 

Even Johnson and Johnson, though, are only using a line of cells that have their roots in an abortion from decades ago. They are not committing more abortions to populate the vaccine.  If it really bothers your conscience, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do not use this tissue derivation. 

As an analogy, you might consider the question: Would you drive a Volkswagen? After all, Volkswagen as a company was established and funded by the Nazis. Some people might hear that and say, “Well, I can’t in good conscience ride in a VW anymore.” Most of us, though, would say, “Well, that was almost 100 years ago. Whether I buy a VW now doesn’t change any of that.” 

More importantly, though, is the principle behind it: How being pro-life is affirmed by using the vaccine? If I believe in the sanctity of human life (and I do), I believe that every life is significant to God (and I do), and that questions of “viability” or “capacity” are irrelevant to whether those lives matter (which I agree with), why wouldn’t I take a vaccine that protects not just me but the elderly and infirmed? It would seem to be that the most “pro-life” thing I can do is to participate in a vaccine that helps preserve the lives of others. 

4. (Most importantly) His teaching of the vaccine distorts the gospel message itself. 

It is a serious charge to say that someone is distorting the gospel and not one I make lightly. But Mr Farag has laid out a concept of salvation and damnation that is fundamentally at odds with the New Testament. 

I hope that I have misunderstood him, but here’s what I heard him saying: If you take the vaccine, you have disrupted your DNA. You are now less than human. You have received the mark of the beast and you will be destroyed. Any previous proclamation of faith in Christ you have made is violated by this action (regardless of what your motivations were in taking the vaccine). The vaccine itself is the agent of damnation. 

That is not the gospel. The gospel is the message that we have sinned against a holy God in what we have intentionally done, intentionally left undone, and intentionally worshiped in God’s place. And our salvation is not rooted in what we do (such as abstain from the vaccine) but rather than by grace alone through faith alone. To add any action to that is one of the chief problems Paul, Peter and John warn against in the New Testament (read Galatians, for example, and submit “refrain from the vaccine” for “circumcision” and you’ll see what I mean). 

I know that this message has become quite long, but I do really want to warn you against what he’s saying. I appreciate you wanting to know God’s Word and please Him, but this is not the way to do it. I would encourage you (and your mom) to delete his website from your rotation and not go back to it again. 

If you desire to please God, though, it is better to pursue God’s will for you: your sanctification (1 Thess 4:3). Instead of worrying about the vaccine, let’s focus on those core responsibilities God calls all believers to: 

• Loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. 
• Loving our neighbor as ourselves. 
• Sharing the message of the gospel. 
• Loving our family as Christ loves the church. 
• Abstaining from immorality. 

If you have any questions about this or would like to talk more, feel free to reach out. 

• Bob

Previous: “Why I lost 50 pounds this year”

“How did you lose the weight?”

Combined with “How much weight have you lost,” this is the most common question I receive from people these days. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned, though I’ve found people usually aren’t interested in the level of detail you’ll see below.

So here’s the short answer: I ate less calories and moved more.

I’m not saying anything against surgeries, medications, or support groups. But for me, it was as simple as changing my diet and exercise.

“Yeah, but everyone says eat less and move more. How did you do that?”

1. I recorded everything I ate 

This was my new year’s resolution this year. I’m not on a diet. I’m not restricting calories. I’m just writing down reality.

Awareness of what I ate was an essential part of changing what I ate. Previously, I ate impulsively. There’s a donut in the break room? There’s pizza available at a church event? There’s chips in the pantry? There’s candy for sale in the gas station checkout? Yes, yes, yes… and let me pull over to get that.

I knew that there was significant research that said awareness itself changes behavior. That’s why there are those solar powered speed limit signs that tell you how fast you’re going and there’s calorie counts on display signs in California.

So, at the end of last year I began entering everything (and I mean everything) I ate into MyFitnessPal on my phone.

It took about three weeks to stop being annoying. After that, recording what I ate became an easy habit. And as someone who likes tracking things, it became a fun game for me. (I know, that’s weird.)

Pretty quickly I began to see the shifts in my eating. Do I really want to have to write down that I ate a second donut? For the second day in a row?

Plus, since MyFitnessPal linked with my smart watch, if I went over my calories I could go for an extra walk to get myself back into the green for the day.

2. I switched to five, pre-planned meals a day

One of the challenges I have had in the past with overeating is a fear of being hungry later. That is, if I eat a salad for lunch, will I be hopelessly starving at 3 pm? Better eat a giant burrito just to be safe that I don’t go hungry.

Two strategies helped me change this behavior:

i. Pre-plan my lunches – I identified lunch as my biggest problem meal of the day and the one I most wanted to fix. Why was lunch my biggest problem? Probably because it was separated from my family community. I eat breakfast and dinner with them and I want them to eat nutritious food, but lunch was just me.

So here’s what I do: each Monday morning I go to Trader Joe’s and buy pre-packaged salads and healthy snacks for my office. I also grill chicken breasts at home for the week’s lunches. After a couple of months, I zero’d in on TJ’s Southwest Salad (200 calories), which is now what I eat most work days, combined with a sweet potato (microwaved) and four ounces of chicken breast. (“What, every day?” I’ll get to the boredom part of this later).

ii. Add two small meals each day – This was helpful to me mentally. It really helps to know that I’m never more than a couple of hours away from another meal.

Mid-morning I have a protein bar (this one) and mid-afternoon I have a protein shake (using this blender in my office; two scoops of chocolate protein powder, skim milk, oats, peanut butter, and ice).

3. Exercise became a scheduled part of each day.

While changing what I ate was the primary vehicle for weight loss, exercise did help, too. It helped with burning calories, of course, but also with mental health and with feeling stronger in my body.

I know some people hate exercising but I actually enjoy it, especially now (Last January? A little less so).

Of course, finding time to exercise is tough. I get it. As a dad, husband, pastor, and doctoral student I didn’t exactly have time to just hang out at the gym. And as someone who… how can I say this gently…. sweats like a pig, exercise can’t exactly be wedged in between appointments.

So, what did I do?

First, I embraced walking. In an inversion of Churchill’s maxim, I considered what I could do walking instead of sitting. My job is sedentary, for the most part. But could I read while walking? Sure, if I embraced audiobooks. Could I write sermons while walking? Parts of them, sure, as long as I didn’t mind people seeing me carry papers and mouth words on the street (masks helped with that one).

Second, I embraced cheesy, late night infomercial exercise videos. Because gyms closed in March (and have been off and on open since then), I had to stop going to Anytime Fitness on my lunch break. I replaced it with P90X3 and then Insanity Max 30. They’re loud, they’re a little annoying… but they’re also reliable, very low cost (especially when a good friend loans the DVD’s to you – thanks, Michael), and efficient. And since I was eating pre-packaged salads for a quick lunch at my desk I had time to workout during the day.

4. Embraced the habit cycle 

At the start of the year, these changes took huge efforts. But as the year has gone on they are easier and easier. Why? Why do some things come so naturally and others seem impossible? And can we choose what to put in each column?

Two books I’d recommend: Atomic Habits by James Clear and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Both books outline how we can leverage the habit loop to benefit us. Without rehashing each of the books here, the bottom line for me was figuring out:

a. What were my triggers for unhealthy eating? (Exposure to unhealthy foods; lack of an eating plan; boredom)

b. What reinforcements helped me want to practice good habits? (Hope of it making a difference; that I could have a protein shake after I worked out)

5. Cultivated the mental shifts needed for change

a. It’s okay if my meals are boring.

Yes, eating healthy is boring sometimes. But fast food is boring, too. I can eat repetitive, boring meals like salads most of the time and be just fine. Plus, there’s plenty else in the world to be fascinated by.

I’m not saying that I don’t want to cook or eat something exotic. I do! But think of it this way: There are almost 100 meals a month. If I eat five truly interesting ones a month, that leaves 95 other ones that are fuel to live on. Better make those 95 nutritious and healthy.

b. “What do I need to eat?” is a better question than “What do I want to eat?”

Let’s be honest: “What do I want to eat” got me to 273 pounds. My desires around food are not an impeccable guide. I want to eat french fries. Lots of them. But I don’t need french fries. I need leafy greens, high vitamin fruits and veggies, lean proteins, certain carbs, and some dairy.

c. There will be more food available when I need it. I don’t need to fill up like a camel. And so what if I’m hungry for a bit?

I have lived an embarrassingly blessed life when it comes to food. I have never experienced food insecurity or had to really worry about whether there would be something to eat tomorrow.

Yet I would still feel the need to eat more than necessary out of concern that I wouldn’t have another meal for a number of hours later. Shifting my mind to expecting that more food would be available and that I was durable enough to withstand hunger were necessary shifts for me.

d. This is going to take a while. That’s okay. I’m not on a diet. I’m just living a healthy life.

There were a lot of moments this year that it was discouraging not to have made more progress more quickly. (I know, I know, 50 pounds in a year is a lot of progress – but it doesn’t feel like it when you haven’t lost 1 pound in two weeks during certain stretches).

At the end of 2019, shortly after the birth of our third child, I weighed 273 pounds. At 6’3, that meant that I was 33 pounds into the “obesity” part of the BMI chart and 73 pounds overweight. I was eating terrible and felt sorry for myself. I was moderately active (playing with my kids and playing ice hockey once a week), but I knew my health was going in the wrong direction. People in my family have developed type II diabetes and I could see that I was following their footsteps if something didn’t change. 

Almost every week when I’d drive home from my hockey game, I’d fantasize about how things would have gone differently if I had been in better shape. And when I’d get dressed for work, I’d complain about how nothing seemed long enough to cover my stomach (outwardly blaming it on my height but knowing it was my weight). 

So, I decided to do something about it. And today I weighed in at 222 pounds, down 51 pounds from my weight at the beginning of the year. 

Since I often get asked, “How did you lose the weight?”, I thought I would put down what worked for me. I do so with some sheepishness, though, knowing that listening to other people talk about their weight loss can be boring, annoying, or worse. I don’t offer these thoughts from a place of superiority or triumph; after all, the only way to lose this much weight is to gain far too much weight in the first place. And I realize that I benefit from a number of factors (age, gender, physical ability, lack of food allergies, access to nutritious food) that make this easier for me than for others. Plus weight is dynamic; who knows that I will not be even heavier in a decade than I was last year?  Additionally, I’m not a dietician and I don’t know if how I lost weight is a good plan for you. 

Last thing: I have no interest in shaming anyone about their weight. I have found that when people ask me about weight loss, they are thinking about their weight, not their own. They are either looking for a strategy they can use or an excuse they can have. I get that. While I think that losing weight has been helpful for me, it may not be for you. I’m happy to encourage you, but have no interest in making you feel bad. 

So, how did I lose 50 pounds?

I came to grips with why health mattered to me.

For me the “Why” portion was more important than the “How.” When I was heavier I understood the problems with fast food, eating added sugar, and my approach to food in general. The problem was not a lack of head knowledge, but rather a problem of the will that came out of a posture of the heart. As a Christian, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to me: As Romans 7 makes clear, it is one thing to know the right thing to do; it’s a whole other to have the desire to do it. 

I’ll write another post soon on the practical “how” questions – what I ate, how I developed habits, what apps I used, etc. But those things all required the energy of “why.”

So, why did I lose weight?

1. I am a bodied person who is as fragile as anyone else – I’ve been blessed with terrific health in my life. I say “blessed” because it is true: I haven’t done anything to deserve it (quite the opposite, actually). But that doesn’t mean that I am impenetrable. Part of middle age is realizing that while my death is inevitable, how I live between now and then is (in part) up to how I treat my body. I know that there are some who claim that Christian theology who would deny this – they say that pure faith will heal us of any disease. That’s a dangerous heresy called the “Prosperity Gospel.” It is better to consider Paul’s words about our contribution in preparing ourselves physically and spiritually.  

1 Timothy 4:8 – “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

2. No one else is responsible for my body – This sounds weird coming from someone who is almost 40, but I needed to recognize that no one else is responsible for my physical health. I’m an adult. While people can be helpful in providing encouragement, support, and community, it’s no one else’s fault if I “have to” grab fast food for lunch. It was helpful for me to consider the outside forces that affected my relationship with food and health: my family of origin, my marriage, my responsibilities as a father, my workplace habits, and my American culture. But there’s a difference between being aware of those things and abdicating responsibility to them. 

3. It is an act of love to my family, my church, and my neighbor – My obesity was a small burden for those near to me now and threatened to become a large burden as I got older. Deciding that I would voluntarily limit my energy and mobility while increasing my risks of stroke, diabetes, and so many other illnesses meant that I was saying, essentially, “I don’t want to care for my body now, but I expect you to care for me later.” 

This has only come into sharper relief during COVID. While I’m not hugely fearful about COVID, I am aware of the role that obesity plays in the morbidity rates of COVID, both directly and through diabetes. 

4. This is a season of preparation – A few years ago I was struck by John Maxwell saying, “The wise man uses his younger years to create options for his later years.” What do I want my later years to look like? Am I able to integrate my current self with the potential of a seventy-five year old version of myself?

5. Because obesity is painful – There’s a saying about change: Change only comes when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change. And the problem with excessive weight is that the pains obesity brings are dull (aches, strains, embarrassment, shame, etc) or they are in the future (potential heart disease, future risks of cancer, etc). So my challenge was bringing that pain into the present, pain I have developed a lot of defense mechanisms to avoid. 

6. Christian maturity is measured in part by being self-controlled – There are a lot of virtues that develop as part of growth in the Christian life (in part shown in the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5). One of the fruit of the Spirit virtues is “self-control.” It is the mark of an elder (1 Timothy 3:2). Young men are specifically exhorted to develop self-control (Titus 2:6). 

So, how can I say that I value self-control when I need a whole bag of sour apple gummies? For me, the excuse was how self-controlled I was in other areas. I don’t drink, control my temper and tongue, etc. But self-control is a good to benefit from, not a limit to be restrained by.

Will power seems to be a limited good (according to social science research). But self-control has a spillover effect. The more I develop self-control in one area, the more it helps in other areas. (More on how I used my limited will power to cultivate self-control in the next post).

7. It is an act of love for my spouse – As with most happily married men, I could say, “Why lose weight? Who do I have to impress?” In fact, I did make the mistake of saying that to my wife once. While she was gracious with me, it was clear that she would like for me to want to still impress her. And I want to give her the gift of a husband whose body she finds as attractive as possible. Will I ever look like a 25 year old male model? No, but there are increments of value between that and apathetic obesity.

Coming up next: How I lost 50 pounds this year

This was written and sent to Grace Seal Beach the week before the 2020 presidential election.

Four years ago, recently confirmed as the next senior pastor at Grace, the presidential election divided the country. Our church wasn’t immune. At least 10 people left the church over the election. Half progressives, half conservatives – it seemed the only thing they had in common was anger at how we weren’t “standing for what was right.” 

Because of that experience, I was less than eager to pastor through another presidential election. And as you know, the situation this year has only become more divisive as a pandemic, economic uncertainty, and an overdue national conversation about race have only escalated the weight of what is said and not said during this season. While I think it is healthy for a pastor to be tentative to offer any political opinions, it is not fair to you to have a pastor who is silent on what Scripture says on any topic. 

I am deeply grateful for how the vast majority of people in this church are thoughtful, measured, and humble with each other. You’ve taught me much about what it means to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. You’ve sought to live at peace with one another and eager to maintain the bonds of Christian fellowship. Thank you. My experience with the vast majority of the church is that you want to bring your faith to bear on your voting in a way that is healthy and encouraging. 

As we’ve been preaching through the Lord’s Prayer during this season, it is worth considering how the Lord’s Prayer can guide our theology during this election season. 

1. “Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” May God’s holiness be shown in how you vote, advocate, and grieve over the next few weeks. 

In political polling, the only thing that seems to matter is, “Who are you voting for?” But, honestly, I am much more concerned with what your voting (or not voting) says about your heart. Are you voting out of love for God and your neighbor? Or is your voting a demonstration of selfishness and wrath? Is your voting a mark of faith or worldliness? Would you vote any differently if you weren’t a Christian? 

I know that some of you would like me to endorse or condemn President Trump, or endorse or condemn Vice President Biden, but I’m not going to do that. There are a number of reasons for that, but mostly it is because it would not be helpful to you. You must personally wrestle with your conscience in this election. It is not enough to vote for the “right” candidate (if there is one). You must do so with a clear conscience before God on your own. And if you vote differently than I do but do so with peace before God, I don’t want to put a stumbling block in front of you by voicing a different opinion. 

2. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Remember that your citizenship is in Heaven, and it is that kingdom that lasts, not this one. 

As I mentioned on Sunday, a few years ago Becca and I went to Paris for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We were there for a little over a week and happened to be there for their presidential election. We were able to connect with one of my childhood friends who moved to Paris after college, married, and was involved with a church there (the American Church in Paris – a beautiful cathedral on the Seine River with English services, if you’re ever there). We attended worship that Sunday with her and her husband (a native Frenchman), then went to lunch together afterward and heard about the election. While our faith was the same, our earthly citizenship was different. Because I wasn’t French, the election that day was a curiosity, something I had little personally invested in. For my friends, though, the results of that day were deeply important. Because I was a citizen of a different nation, the results of that day would not shape my identity, hope, or fate. 

“What a different attitude than when the American election happens,” I thought. When it was France, I could be calm and rational. Could I do the same if it was my country? Or would I show that I was overly concerned about this kingdom instead of the one to come? 

It’s not that presidential elections (French or American) are wholly unimportant. What happens in them can shape a country for a time. And there are probably some Christians who need to care more, not less, about politics. But my experience is that there is probably more need for correction on the other side. We are too invested in the kingdoms of this world. As Christians we always need to remember that we are foreigners in this election. There is no happy ending to kingdoms of this world. But there is for the Kingdom of God. Our primary citizenship is in another King, and it is from Him that we draw our hope and identity. 

3. “Give us today our daily bread.” Today’s bread is enough.

One of the values of praying for today’s bread is that it focuses us on the present, rather than worrying about the future. Today has enough trouble of its own. It is easy to worry about how this election could impact the future. And while it is wise to consider the long-term impact of any policy, it is unhelpful to worry about things outside our control. Those worries and fears are preyed upon by both sides of the political aisle. We need to remember that even if the worst fear-mongering is true from either side of the aisle, God is in control of providing. 

We do not depend on the government to give us bread, but God. While the government can do either good or harm for its people, it is not the ultimate source of anything on its own. 

4. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” We must never forget that we are forgiven people. 

As Christians, we are not people who have received what we deserved. Quite the opposite. We have received what Christ deserved but freely shared and gave us. 

Christians can disagree on how grace should shape political policy, which is understandable. But it cannot be forgotten. We cannot become self-righteous or mean-spirited people who forget the joy and humility of our salvation. 

5. “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” The election brings temptations; God’s Spirit can sustain us through them as we resist temptation and deliver us from evil. 

We are naive if we think that elections are not temptations. They can tempt us in different ways: some are tempted to grab power in unjust ways; some to speak unlovingly to others; some to despair; some to divisive speech; and probably a dozen other ways. But we are all going to experience temptations tied to the next three weeks. Pray for yourself, pray for one another, and please pray for me. We all need God’s sustaining strength through this time. And be gracious with those who are walking through different temptations than you are right now.

I will be praying for you in the next few weeks. It is a hard season for your heart, but it is also a time that God can use to grow you in your longing for Him. Whatever happens on November 3rd, I pray that you will love Christ more on November 4th than you do now. 

In Christ,

Pastor Bob

PS. I’ve put together a list of resources for those who want to reflect more on how their faith intersects with the political realities of the day. While there is no shortage of those purporting to offer Christian voter guides, think pieces, and take-down articles, these are the ones that I’ve found most helpful, personally. 

Recommended Resources: 

• Books on political theology and political theory 

Jonathan Leeman – How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age (if you’d like a shorter version of Leeman’s writing, here’s an article he wrote recently on the ethics of voting and here’s an offer for a free audiobook, “How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics”)

David Koyzis – Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies

• “How to Navigate the Generational Divide in Politics” by Brett McCracken

• (YouTube video) Why do black Christians and white Christians vote differently? 

• “How could Christians support the other side?” If you’re an ardent Republican or Democrat, it might seem impossible to you that Christians could see it differently. If that’s you, I’d encourage you to read what other Christians have written, if for no other reason than to better understand and love your brothers and sisters: 

More conservative – Decision Magazine

More progressive – The AND Campaign

• Pastor Don’s article in GraceConnect this fall on trying to discern what Jesus would do in today’s political climate

• Mark Dever on politics and the church

• John Piper, “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin” 

• Bobby Scott, “Should pastors endorse a candidate for president?” 

• Helpful sources of Christian news and editorials: 
  • Christianity Today
  • The Gospel Coalition 
  • WORLD Magazine 
  • The Briefing Podcast

These are my remarks and a pastoral prayer from last Sunday at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach. They’ve been edited for a written format. You can see the video here, starting at 23:53. 

This weekend is the 244th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Normally, we don’t make a huge deal of patriotic holidays in worship, because it is not the role of the church to celebrate national holidays. 

But this year there is so much hurt, anger, and longing among our community and nation that it is a ripe opportunity to cry out to God.  Additionally, all of us need help cultivating a theology of Christian citizenship that will work in the modern-day. 

Unfortunately, the models of Christian citizenship most often presented in our culture are at the political extremes. Is there a way we can pray together as a diverse Christian community?

One of the reasons why praying together for our country is difficult is that we often disagree about who “America” is. Specifically, there is a divide between older and younger evangelicals in the US about whether America is more like the biblical model of Israel or Babylon. 

For many older American Evangelicals (though not all, of course), our country reminds them of Israel. They remember how God has used America to bring hope, freedom, and the gospel throughout the world. They recognize the deep religious faith of many of the founders and the ways America seemed like the promised land to them. They celebrate the willingness of the American people to sacrifice to bring freedom and democracy in the face of fascism and communion, even at the cost of war. They resonate with Abraham Lincoln’s description of America as the “last, best hope of earth” and see our current cultural moment as the point that where that hope will be either saved or lost (as did Lincoln himself). They are concerned about America facing the same exile and wilderness that Israel faced in the Babylonian captivity. For them, America is losing its essential quality as a Christian nation. 

For many younger American Evangelicals (though, again, not all), our country reminds them of Babylon. They see the way that Babylon enslaved and slaughtered people they conquered and they see America’s shameful history of the same. They see how Babylon used their military to enrich itself at the expense of other people, using their offer of freedom as a pretext for extortion, and overlay American foreign policy. And they are concerned that even as Babylon misunderstood themselves as impenetrable, America is on a similar path to divine judgment. For them, America has never lived up to being known as a Christian nation.

So, who is right? Is America Israel or Babylon?

Neither. America is America. 

A sign of mature Christian thinking is the capacity for avoiding false dichotomies. (Think about Solomon’s wisdom with the baby, Jesus with the challenge over taxes, or Paul’s response to the question of circumcision.) When we put only two options on the table and say, “You have to choice A or B,” as if they are the only potentialities, we rob ourselves of seeing the broader complexity God offers.

Do we need to say, “Israel or Babylon”? We are certainly not the unique covenant people of God. But that does not mean that we need to assume the opposite is true.

To have an honest and fully Christian view of America, we should thank God for many aspects of how God has blessed America. It would be ungrateful and ahistorical to act as if God has not blessed America. And yet glossing over our many sins as a country is neither honest nor pious. There are also many things we should be ashamed of in our country’s past and present. The presence of one does not need to deny the other.

So, how does a church of both younger and older Christians pray together on the fourth of July? I think the best way is to pray together for revival.

Revival is when God’s people experience the normal means of grace (confession, repentance, and assurance of salvation and forgiveness) in heightened and profound ways. It’s normal grace to a supernatural extent.

Revival is not necessarily a return to a certain point in the past. Revival is neither a conservative nor progressive act. It is a cry for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven.

God has been kind in our country’s history and done this before.  Even before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the First Great Awakening swept through our land. Later, the Second Great Awakening brought revival to a new generation. Portions of revivals came during and after some of the darkest points in our country, such as the Civil War and the two World Wars of the 20th century. And in more recent days, certain aspects of the Jesus People movement of the 1970’s experienced revival experiences. 

These revivals are not unique to America. Profound revivals have happened in Pyongyang, Kenya, and Wales, among others. (If you’d like to read about revivals, I recommend A God-Sized Vision: Revival Stories that Stretch and Stir by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge). 

When we say we need revival, we confess that we are a people in rebellion against God. We humbly confess. We ask God to return us to the freedom that Christ has won for us on the cross. 

1 Peter 2:16 – “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

On this freedom weekend, why would we ever want to return to a yoke of slavery to sin? 

PRAYER 

God, you’ve called us to be a part of America. We know that our final home is with you in Heaven and it is there that we have our citizenship. But while we are here, we’re proud to be Americans, whether through birth or immigration.  

But that pride in our country doesn’t mean we ignore our sin. We’re grieved by the sins of our people. 

God, we confess our country’s many sins against you, both in the past and in the present. We see the ways that we have failed to love you and our neighbor and we are truly sorry.

God, would you revive us? Would you bring life to us as a people? Not so people would come to our side, but so that we would together fall down before you and cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

God, we are grateful for much of our country’s history and we’re grieved by much of it, too. Thank you for those older adults in our church who help us to see the good you’ve done in our past. We don’t want to neglect to be grateful for those things. Thank you for the younger adults in our church who help us to see the ways that we need to change in order to live holy lives before you. 

God, we are often overwhelmed at the complexity of the problems facing us as a country. But before we look at the problems in others, would you bring revival and start with us? Would you give us mercy and make us a people of mercy? 

In Christ’s name,

AMEN