I'll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction

by Lysa TerKeurst

“I want you to give up the one thing you crave more than me. Then come, follow me.”

With Jesus, if we want to gain, we must give up. To be filled, we must deny ourselves. To truly get close to God, we’ll have to distance ourselves from other things. To conquer our cravings, we’ll have to redirect them to God.

Getting healthy isn’t just about losing weight. It’s about recalibrating our souls so that we want to change—spiritually, physically, and mentally. And the battle really is in all three areas.

Honestly, I am made for more than a vicious cycle of eating, gaining, stressing—eating, gaining, stressing . . . I am made to rise up, do battle with my issues, and, using the Lord’s strength in me, defeat them to the glory of God.

Cravings = trying to get our physical desires met outside the will of God Lust of eyes = trying to get our material desires met outside the will of God Boasting = trying to get our need for significance met outside the will of God

Eve craved what she focused on. We consume what we think about. And what we think about can consume us if we’re not careful.

Everything is permissible’—but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 10:23). I

Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?

Each time I craved something I knew wasn’t part of my plan, I used that craving as a prompt to pray. I craved a lot. So, I found myself praying a lot.

“God, I recognize I am made for more than the vicious cycle of being ruled by food. I need to eat to live, not live to eat. So, I keep asking for Your wisdom to know what to eat and Your indwelling power to walk away from things that aren’t beneficial for me.”