I have half an hour of free internet and my father’s favourite verse. He quotes “rejoice in the LORD” at any time, appropriate and inappropriate. And he says, frequently, that repetition is good, for it drums facts in. I can recall him making me recite my times tables as a child, every morning, until I had them right.

A lot of bloggers think you have to be novel. I’m less sure. I think we have to speak truth, and that will lead to us repeating ourselves.

For our pride should not be in achievements or credentials but in how lives change around us. And most training requires practice.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 3:1-14 ESV)

But most of us don’t have confidence in God. Instead, we have confidence in the flesh: we may not circumcise ourselves, but we will do yoga, restrict our diet, attend the gym and look down on those who do not have the perfect diet or perfect body type.

I’m not against restricting your diet for moral reasons. Obviously, the fact that I was a vegan suggests that I think eschewing animal products is a perfectly swell way to live . I still buy certified humane eggs whenever possible, and get our meat from the sort of twee hippy CSA that my commenters think is no end of funny. I fast for Lent every year, and have friends who keep kosher. I’m not against applying moral principles to food. What I’m against is thinking that what you eat makes you a better class of person, and smugly lecturing those who don’t follow your lead — a phenomenon that, as Phoebe Malz Bovy points out, is hardly restricted to vegans.

I am more against restricting diet for moral reasons: I do not keep kosher, I don’t really follow the seasons of the church, and the only reason I eschew sugar is that my blood sugar goes crazy. I will never have a perfect body: I am more interested in having one that works.

Now, we do need to be stewards of our body. I’d suggest this is more about keeping ourselves chaste that with a BMI less than 23.

It is far better to rejoice in the LORD now than wait until you hit your goal weight.

And let us repeat the truth frequently. Because those who preach lies have no inhibitions about saying them loudly and often.