I Wanna Be F.A.T.!
Are you spiritually F.A.T.? Would you like to put on some more godly weight? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then I Wanna Be F.A.T.! is the book you have been looking for.
This book examines how one can put on some spiritual pounds through demonstrating three important characteristics: Being Faithful, Approachable, and Teachable.
Written by Hope CDA Executive Director, Dr. Robert Pannier, I Wanna Be F.A.T.! explains how God models each of these traits so that we know how to live them out ourselves. He explains the importance of each characteristic, and provides both a theological and practical approach to each trait. This gives the reader the ability to truly be able to answer: “What would Jesus do?” You will find that Dr. Pannier provides a great guide to helping you grow in your faith while also demonstrating Jesus to all you encounter.
Whether you are a long-time Christian or a newbie, you will find that there is a lot of “meat” for you to devour and apply to your life. No one goes away feeling malnourished on how they should walk for God after reading this book. So, time for you to get on a spiritual diet that helps you to become F.A.T.!
You can read the first two sections of Chapter 1 below.
A Desire to Be F.A.T.
Are you F.A.T.” Well, you should be.
Wow, that sure isn’t something you hear people say. Most are running to the gym and eating carrots and alpha sprouts in an effort to drop those unwanted pounds, so you must be wondering why I want you to be F.A.T.
Actually, that is exactly what I hope for you. The truth is that a lot of Christians want to be F.A.T. these days. Some might say that the movement is bursting.
I think you would agree that not many people embrace the idea of being F.A.T. I want to change that right here, right now!
I want us to see F.A.T. as good. You see, I want us to see that being F.AT. is not only a positive thing, but it is one that all Christians should be brimming to become. This movement needs to get bloated!
What Are You Talking About?
Ok, so it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. Time to clarify. I am not talking about this kind of fat, but am talking about F.A.T. When I say that, I am talking about being spiritually F.A.T. Really, my hope is that you will be spiritually obese. What I mean is:
Faithful
Approachable
Teachable
These are three characteristics that every Christian should have. In fact, I will tell you that a F.A.T. person is exactly what God is looking for. It should also be what you should desire in your walk with God.
Now let me say that how you look physically is completely irrelevant to the subject. In my opinion (and in the opinion of God), God made you perfect, and if He created you as thin or heavier set, short or tall, or whatever, then you are perfectly created in His image. So, please do not take any of my previous statements as implying that somehow your appearance is bad.
God wants to be able to rely on us, and how He knows that we will walk for Jesus comes from our quest to be F.A.T. It is these three qualities that enable us to demonstrate our love and faithfulness to God, and our desire to serve Him.
F.A.T. Lived out in the Two Greatest Commandments
In Matthew 22, Jesus provided the two greatest commandments. He explained in verse 37: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He then said in verse 39: “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The greatest thing that a person can do is to love God with every bit of who he or she is, to find one’s love ballooning for Him. Jesus tells us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. The truth is that if you are loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, there is nothing that you can do but love others and yourself. It is the very essence of what happens when a person truly loves God – there is this incredible desire to love others and to love ourselves in the same way that God loves us.
The problem is that many of us do not know how to love God. Jesus told us in John 14:15 that if we loved Him, then we would keep His commandments. However, if we are honest with ourselves, none of us are keeping His commandments. We may keep many of them. We may even keep the vast majority of them, but we are still falling short in some areas. So, does this mean that we are not capable of loving Jesus because we are breaking His commandments?
This is the great conundrum that many face. They know they are falling short of keeping the whole Law, so they either give up all together, walking in sin and continual repentance, or they live in shame and guilt, believing that they are unlovable because they are continually falling short. Both of those views are terrible options.
God wants us to walk in complete freedom from the slavery of sin. He wants us to defeat that, but He also understands that we are going to fall short. So, how does He want us to love Him? By being F.A.T.