Life Style Rules.

A month ago I did a fasting blood sugar test and a serum cholesterol test. The results were normal, but they were on the high side of normal. The doctor told me I was fine, but I was not comfortable with the results and so I decided to make some dietary changes. I decided to start a healthier diet plan and cut off certain foods and drinks that are likely to trigger high levels of sugar and cholesterol in my system. My plan was to watch it for about three months and do a retest.

I started this program about three weeks ago and I am very glad with my self control so far. It is far better to be proactive with life than to be reactive.

One day, as I was reflecting on the steps I had taken so far and counting my progress on the diet program, I realized that I was making an error. My error was that I was looking at being on this diet for a while and not looking at making it a lifestyle. The only way I can achieve a result that will truly be preventive and proactive would be if my dietary program became a lifestyle.

When this realization dawned, the pressure for result also lifted because if it becomes a lifestyle successful results would be inevitable. I stopped checking and ticking off on my calendar because lifestyle do not have timelines as it is who you are and what you do characteristically. It is your attitudes and your behavior. Lifestyle is your “way of living”. (The Chambers Dictionary, 10th Edition)

Lifestyle adjustment and changes remain at the center of effectiveness in our personal and public lives. Indeed if it is a true lifestyle change we will have only one life flowing seamlessly between what we commonly call “public’’ and “private lives” because wherever we play the spirit of who we are will rule our motives and actions. Until this adjustment is made we will only be role acting, but failing at effectiveness.

Interestingly, I saw a thread of this lifestyle rule in the introductory chapter of “The Spirit of Leadership” by Dr. Myles Munroe. In analyzing the reason for the lack of true leaders in today’s world, he wrote, “I believe the problem is that leadership has become a role one plays rather than a life one leads. Contemporary leaders are attempting to divorce their personal lives from their public responsibilities and their personal standards from their public lives. To many, leadership is an act not a calling…Leadership is not a technique, a style, or the acquisition of skills, but a manifestation of a spirit.” In a nutshell, what the author is saying is that we lack quality and effective leadership because the people in leadership positions have not made leadership their lifestyle. They play act it, but they do not live it. They wear the robes of leadership sometimes and remove it other times. The inevitable result of this attitude is ineffectiveness and inconsistencies.

This lifestyle rule applies in every area of our lives. For instance, if doing and being good becomes the life we lead, doing and being good would not be so difficult to achieve. However, the problem we have is that we have timelines for being and doing good. In other words, we do good for a while and then do the contrary other times. Because we are not in the act of goodness consistently our good results are inconsistent too.

Understanding this lifestyle rule the great Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatian church wrote, “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we do not give up. (Gal 6:9, HCSB) Rewards for goodness become probable only when we make goodness a lifestyle. Lifestyle is a consistent attitude, behavior, characteristic or way of living. (The Chambers Dictionary, 10th Edition)

The lifestyle rule remains valid in our homes too. A wife must make it a lifestyle not to nag and the husband must make a lifestyle adjustment to truly listen to his wife. Both parties must make respecting each other a lifestyle - and not on some occasions. These lifestyle changes in our homes will ensure that we enjoy lifetime harmony because the style we bring to life and the issues of life determine the outcomes we get from life as there is no divorcing the two.