Easy to Obtain, Hard to Maintain...

A few Sundays ago I jumped on something my pastor said. "Some things are easy to obtain, but heard to maintain..."

He went on to illustrate. “It’s easy to obtain admission to college, but it’s hard to maintain your focus and graduate.  It’s easy to obtain a job, but it’s harder to keep it and excel. It’s easy, in a manner of speaking, to obtain a wedding, but hard to maintain a marriage...”

He also applied the obtain-maintain principle to being a disciple of God. He said it’s easy to obtain a church in which “you walk down front and we let you in.” But it’s hard to maintain our relationships as believers because they require discipleship, fellowship, and service -- and all those things are difficult. So people fall in and out of church -- and in and out of relationship with God. 

Boy! My pastor’s teaching was so relevant to the spiritual battle that rages within Christians over our unhealthy eating and fitness habit that lead to obesity. 

My thoughts turned to my work with yo-yo dieters and with those fighting weight regain after weigh-loss surgery. After achieving a desired weight loss, seven out of ten dieters regain weight again. Why? Is it because they discovered they had to work hard at doing and being different?

Later that same week I was reminded of the second chapter of 2 Timothy, where the Apostle Paul is instructing young preachers how to be successful. He says to endure; don’t allow the affairs of life to get you off track; play the by the rules; and work hard.