I’m back with the team of mountain bikers who rented our house while practicing for the Cape Epic. I was simply amazed by the food left behind in the fridge. Obviously, only the best, because by using pounds and dollars all the shops had bargains for them.

Actually, I’ve never seen such food. Pumpkin pasta and long, thin, green tubes. I suspect this was some kind of vegetable. Almond milk and thin smoked strips of meat – it looked like bacon, but with no fat. Top quality wine – it seemed as if they liked Chardonnay. Probably because it goes well with the salmon and soft cheeses that is part of their diet.

When they said goodbye, the manager apologised for all the empty plastic bottles by the back door. The team drinks 40 liters of water per day.

But a professional cyclist probably needs an intake like this to be able to spend eight hours or more per day in the saddle riding up and down mountains. It’s more of a lifestyle. A style with no place for ordinary treats like a fatty mutton chop, baked potatoes, pumpkin pie and ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Everything in their lives is adjusted to suit their lives as cyclists. If you want to be top of the list, if you want to be counted among the best of the best, you must dedicate your life to the sport full-time.

Can you see that the last 10 words of the sentence are actually Biblical language: “… you must dedicate your life to the sport full-time”? As Paul put it: ³God wants you to live a pure life.

God wants us to live a life that is pure. He wants us to adjust our lives so that we can move closer and closer to Him. Like the cyclists, we have to focus and practice; we must make sacrifices and not live like the people of the world. No, we have to ensure that we eat the right food and get our energy from the right place to complete the race successfully.

We have weakened Christianity considerably. I understand that Jesus had already died for our sin, but because we are grateful for that, we choose to adjust our conduct in such a way that it makes Jesus happy. Salvation brings with it a will and a calling to set our lives apart for God completely.

It takes effort. It requires difficult choices. Choices where we sometimes need to choose to swim against the stream and not necessarily take the road of least resistance. Choices we make to spend enough time with God every day, so that we can get energy from his Word. So that we can get enough fuel to make it through every day successfully.

All of us still need to work on this. Let’s make a commitment and make plans to adjust our lifestyle so that our lives will be set apart for God more and more.

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Reflection

How much of you is really set apart for the Lord?

In what way are you not dedicated to God yet?

How can you change this?

Prayer

Our Father, how we struggle to comply with your simple directions! I have to confess that I still need to do a lot of work to become totally dedicated to You. Please show me where I still need to change and give me the strength to do it. Amen.