Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(Romans 12.2 NRSV)

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Mussa Zoabi of Israel claims to be the oldest person alive. He says he's 160 years old. Unfortunately, Guinness Book of World Records isn't going to print his name simply because his age can't be verified. Mr. Zoabi is older than most records-keeping systems will go. But here's the interesting thing! However old he really is, Mussa Zoabi knows exactly how he managed to live so long. He'll tell the secret to anybody who wants to know. He says: Every day I drink a cup of melted butter or olive oil! Doesn't that sound like a great diet?

Diets are the rage, aren't they?! Everybody's got a special diet. One says his diet can cure cancer. Another promises to reduce your weight, and then to keep those extra pounds off. Already in ancient times there were diets that supposedly turned on the sex hormones, and made a person incredibly irresistible! Now there's a report from Copenhagen, that the Danes have a diet craze on their hands. People are eating horse food! Hey! You don't see many sick horses, do you?! Health Department spokesman Haagen Schmidt, says that "especially young women keep on eating hay and raw oats!" And they do it, he says, in spite of a tremendous surge in digestive problems reported by hospitals all over the country!

Are you on a diet?! Sixty percent of women in North America say they're on a diet! Imagine that! A woman at Weight Watchers once told this story. She said that a new client had begun her diet. Came in to be weighed after the first stressful week. Stepped on the scale. Lost a couple of pounds! But the dieter wasn't too happy. She complained. She said: My friend comes here to Weight Watchers, and she told me she lost ten pounds. She said I'd lose ten pounds in the first week, too! Well, the leader at Weight Watchers was a little disturbed. She knew that you don't lose weight over night. So she asked the dieter, a little indignantly: Who told you that?! Is she a doctor?! The woman shook her head. Is she a nurse?! No, said the woman. Well! Is she a nutritionist, or another Weight Watchers leader?! Negative again! Well who is she?! I think . . . said the newcomer, I think she's a liar!

Nothing worth doing comes easy. It takes hard work. Our spiritual lives take a lot of work too.

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Dear God, my spiritual life is important. May I work in it like I would any other important project in my life. In Jesus name, Amen.

Ron Newhouse