When we share the gospel we do so admitting our mistakes, doubts, sins and shortcomings. The more we take God’s call to holiness seriously, the more some of these flaws seem to matter in fact. It means we can share the grace of God with a humility that is attractive to people who are also flawed; rather than with a self-confidence which will crush those who are aware of their sin; and a hypocrisy which will alienate everyone.

There is a popular Christian meme that does the rounds on social media every so often. It reminds us that amongst the Biblical heroes involved in God’s work are some pretty dodgy characters. It usually begins “Noah was a drunk, Jonah ran away, Sarah laughed at God, Thomas doubted (etc etc); and you think that God can’t use you??” It’s a simple point, well made. If God included such a cast of rogues in his word; then why do we think that we can’t be in on his plans because of our sin?
Yet—many of us back off from evangelism out of a sense of unworthiness. Apart from the obvious fact that our deepest spiritual and psychological issues are not fixed by memes (!!), what is going on here?
The first thing to note is that we instinctively know that while that popular meme is undoubtedly true, and nothing but the truth; it’s not quite the whole truth. Anyone who has read the Bible will also know that God also demands radical holiness from us and urges separation from people who claim to be Christians but practice things such as sexual immorality, idolatry, slander, drunkenness, fraud, and greed. Jesus himself taught the necessity of quite extraordinary standards of holiness in conduct, speech and attitudes too.[1] And of course hypocrisy is hardly a great advert for the faith…
Reading these texts we all often experience a profound sense of our own sinfulness before God, and need for forgiveness. It also makes us very, circumspect about claiming to be God’s ambassadors here on earth, and putting ourselves in the position of calling others to be reconciled to God, when we know that there are stubborn lumps of our old nature which continue to reside in us; which are not in line with that message.
If you think Paul’s teaching about church discipline in Corinth is hard; then read Jesus’s battles with the Pharisees and Sadducees—the religious hierarchy of his day! Jesus’s main bone of contention with them was not that they sought to uphold the law (although they did often miss-apply it) but that they were religious hypocrites; who brought the message of God into disrepute by having attitudes and lifestyles that did not embody their teaching. When Jesus called the religious leaders ‘whitewashed tombs’[2] he was utterly scathing in his denunciation of outward shows of religiosity which were not matched by an inwardly sincere spiritual life. Or as my Solas colleague Gareth Black wrote, “your character should never be playing catch-up with your calling”. Religious hypocrisy stinks no less today, where it occurs in the local church or amongst the public scandals of televangelists, than it did in the gospels.
So, should we read the teaching of Jesus and keep our mouths firmly closed in the knowledge that sinners like us can never adequately represent Him? Or should we look at the flawed folks in the Bible God used in His work, take heart and get on with mission regardless? Are we inevitably locked into this conundrum – or is there a way out?
The answer, I think, lies in the gospel of Jesus itself.
The texts in scripture which tell us about the holiness of God and His righteous requirements for our lives are supposed to help us see our sinfulness.  “The law was our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ” is how Paul phrases that in Galatians. It’s God’s perfect, exacting standards of inward and outward holiness which drive us into the arms of Christ where we find forgiveness.
There is a critical step that we all have to take as we receive that grace and forgiveness though. Because in order to receive forgiveness of sin, we must come to God in confession. 1 John 1:8-9 tells us that denial of sin, is a fatal condition; but that confession opens the path to receiving forgiveness from God. Confession is the humbling business of agreeing with God about our sinfulness, and no longer seeking to explain or excuse that which we find within ourselves that falls short of his standards.
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While God is sovereign over every aspect of our lives—including the precise number of breaths we will take—He has created our bodies to generally perform better and for longer with a balanced diet and regular exercise.  The better we take care of our bodies through diet and exercise (as well as things like sleep, hygiene, and proper preventative medical care), the longer they will generally last.  We will therefore have more energy and ability to serve the Lord actively for far longer.  

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
-1 Timothy 4:7-10, ESV
The new year is fast approaching, so the season for resolutions is upon us.  Some of the most common involve losing weight and starting to exercise.  As a result, what I call the “resolution rabble” overwhelms gyms across the country before dying off as most people lose motivation and quit.  People similarly begin diets with great discipline but likewise lose motivation and go back to old habits.  The shape stays a bit round and the pounds stay on.  On the other side, diet and exercise can become an obsession, leading to faithful devotees to various exercise routines, products, diets, and practices.  How should we look at this biblically?  What does Scripture say about fitness and health that can guide us to actually accomplish those resolutions?
A Greater Purpose for Health and Fitness
Arguably the biggest reason health and fitness resolutions fail is a lack of vision and purpose.  Why “get in shape”? Why lose weight?  Without this, people quit at the first sign of adversity.  As part of the futility resulting from the Fall (Genesis 3:18, Romans 8:20), diet and exercise both require effort for quite a while before seeing any results, which leads to frustration that could cause us to quit.  Only a purpose much larger than ourselves and our pleasure can overcome the frustration of seemingly fruitless pain.  Scripture clearly defines that purpose: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).  As the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism states, our primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  That must be the motivation behind everything we do, including our approach to diet and exercise.  We want to get in shape in order to glorify God.  We want to lose the weight in order to glorify God.  That is the purpose that can turn a resolution that is easily cast aside into a strong habit that produces real results.
Two Wrong Approaches
This naturally leads to two extremes that must be avoided.  The first is to over-spiritualize diet and exercise.  We can come to see particular diets, like the “Daniel Diet”, as paths to righteousness and their opposites as defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Scripture clearly teaches that since the Holy Spirit indwells believers, we are His temple, which is a major motivation to glorify God in how we treat our bodies: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Yet Jesus made it very clear that we do not desecrate that temple through what we eat or drink: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him” (Mark 7:15).  He therefore declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19).  Only in sexual immorality does a man sin against his own body (1 Corinthians 6:18) so only sexual immorality desecrates our bodies in which the Holy Spirit dwells.[1]  Junk food, alcohol, and tobacco cannot do that, so diet and exercise are not the path to righteousness.  The same can be said of any attempt to avoid sin through bodily severity:
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
-Colossians 2:20-23, ESV
No matter how severely we treat our bodies, those habits will not stop the indulgence of the flesh.  Remember, self-control is a fruit given by the Holy Spirit through the vehicle of faith, not by bodily deprivation.  We must not over-spiritualize diet and exercise and therefore overemphasize the importance of our physical bodies.
The opposite error is to disregard diet and exercise entirely.  I have heard people cite Proverbs 28:1 as an excuse for avoiding exercise: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion”.  They also shun any semblance of dieting by pointing out that in the Mosaic Law the fat was holy to the LORD (Leviticus 3:16). They may not sinfully over-indulge in food, alcohol, and smoking, but they partake of these things enough to negatively affect their bodies.  In rightly avoiding the error of over-spiritualizing the body, they under-spiritualize it.  First, they are clearly committing the cardinal sin of bible study by taking these verses out of context.  They ignore the many proverbs against laziness (Proverbs 6:6-11, 13:4, 19:24, 21:25) and gluttony (Proverbs 23:2,21, 25:16,27) and the ceremonial aspects of laws regarding fat.  This, like the “cultural cop-out”, is an attempt to make the Bible say what we want in order to support our desires rather than subordinating our desires to the Bible.
Stewardship and Self-Control
Instead, the concept of stewardship is prevalent throughout Scripture.  As we saw with tithing, all we have ultimately belongs to God.  He entrusts it to us and then charges us to take care of it for His glory.  That includes our bodies.  In commanding husbands to follow the example of Christ with the Church by nourishing and cherishing their wives as their own bodies (Ephesians 5:28-29), he is assuming that we love our own bodies by nourishing and cherishing them.  We must care for ourselves physically, but taking care of ourselves physically must not supersede our pursuit of godliness.
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
-1 Timothy 4:6-10, ESV
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Doug began his pastoral ministry in Trenton, NJ at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) from 1971-1975 before becoming the pastor of New Life in Christ Church (NLICC) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1975, where he served faithfully until his death in 2024. Doug started NLICC as an unaffiliated church but steadily led the church into the Presbyterian Church in America in 1998.

Rev. Dr. Douglas Warren Kittredge was called into the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on February 10, 2024. His earthly journey was distinguished by a deep commitment to his God, his family, his church, and the global mission of the church, leaving an unmistakable impact on all who knew him.
Douglas is survived by his devoted wife of 54 years, Mary Jane, their four children: Douglas Charles, Rachel Marie Whitman (James), Andrew Mark (Sarah), Naomi Elizabeth Wilson (Chad); and 13 grandchildren: Juliet (Ryan), Tyler, Isabel, Lincoln, Elijah, Esther, Abigail, Jordan, Judah, Wren, Sybil, Margaret, and Faye. His legacy also lives on through his sister, Jeanette Stadick of Roselle, Illinois.
His academic journey laid the foundation for his ministry, beginning with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College in 1968, followed by a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1971, and culminating in a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1988.
Doug began his pastoral ministry in Trenton, NJ at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) from 1971-1975 before becoming the pastor of New Life in Christ Church (NLICC) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1975, where he served faithfully until his death in 2024. Doug started NLICC as an unaffiliated church but steadily led the church into the Presbyterian Church in America in 1998. As such, he transferred from the OPC to the “Delmarva” (Delaware, Maryland & Virginia) Presbytery (of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod) in 1975 and was received into the James River Presbytery (of the Presbyterian Church in America) in 1982.
Doug had the perseverance and the kind blessing of God to pastor NLICC for nearly 49 years. During his tenure in Fredericksburg, Doug and Mary Jane pioneered much of the community’s spiritual and educational development. They demonstrated a strong commitment to Christian education, helping to inspire the vision behind Fredericksburg Christian School, contributing to its early success, and serving on its board. Recognizing the needs of homeschooling families, in 2004 they led in organizing Christ Covenant School, a homeschool cooperative in Fredericksburg.
Doug’s commitment to the dignity of God-given life led him to support the establishment of pro-life ministries in Fredericksburg. His early support and vision were instrumental in bringing Bethany Christian Services and a crisis pregnancy center to the area.
His passion for equipping future church leaders motivated and supported the launching of the Fredericksburg branch of New Geneva Theological Seminary in 2002. Here he taught and mentored many men to licensure and ordination within the James River Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Under Doug’s visionary leadership, several new churches were started, and he helped organize three city-wide evangelistic campaigns in collaboration with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization. He was pivotal in advancing the work of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Mary Washington by supporting the first full-time worker on campus.
Doug had a strong conviction of the church’s responsibility to reach the Jewish people with the gospel. He made numerous trips to the nation, fostering friendships with local churches and leading many groups on tours of the land to connect with Christian workers. In 2012, he helped start the Jerusalem Gateway Partnership, a missionary partnership aimed at establishing and supporting churches in Israel and surrounding areas. His written works, “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” and “God’s Plan for Peace in the Middle East,” underscore his commitment to building the church in the Middle East.
However, the crown jewel of his ministry was undoubtedly New Life in Christ Church, which he began in 1975 with just 10 organizing families. The church has since grown significantly, impacting thousands worldwide through its ministry and missions’ arm. Doug was a torchbearer of historic evangelicalism, influenced by his childhood church (Park Street in Boston), his childhood pastor (Harold J. Ockenga), the martyrdom of the “Auca missionaries”, and his time at Wheaton. His evangelical commitments shone through in his conviction on the truthfulness of the Bible, his faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and his efforts in evangelism and worldwide missions. Doug was certain that the local church of Jesus Christ would make a significant difference for the kingdom of God and was the driving force behind his lifelong ministry. He was a pastor at heart, caring to know and be involved in the lives of each person at the church. Countless people have testified of his caring pursuit like a shepherd to the sheep.
When Doug was young, still a young man, he had a chance to join his pastor and Billy Graham as Graham spoke at the Harvard Law Forum. It was a significant day in Doug’s life as Billy Graham challenged these law students to consider the claims of Christ even as they prepared for their career in law.
Doug remembers traveling with his pastor Harold John Ockenga and Billy Graham in a car. Ockenga introduced young Doug to Billy Graham and said, “This young man wants to be a pastor”. Graham looked squarely at him and said, “Is that right, you want to be a pastor?”  Young Doug answered, “Yes, sir.” Graham’s response is something that Doug would remember all his life, “You’ll do well.”
On February 10, 2024, Rev. Dr. Douglas Warren Kittredge heard those words again, but this time, not from Billy Graham, he heard them from His Savior, “You have done well. Well done, good and faithful servant, enter in the joy of your master. He has received the crown laid up for him in heaven, a crown of God’s grace that he will place down in worship at his Savior. Doug Kittredge, a sinner saved by grace, now lives in the abundant love and grace of God in glory.
Sean Whitenack is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is the Pastor of New Life in Christ PCA in Fredericksburg, Va.
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