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November 17 - November 17, 2022
A whole lifetime could be spent giving in to excuses, feeling guilty, resolving to do better, mentally beating myself up for not sticking to my resolve, and then resigning myself to the fact that things can’t change.
“I want you to give up the one thing you crave more than me. Then come, follow me.”
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.
We crave what we eat. If I make healthy choices over a period of time, it seems to reprogram my taste buds. The more veggies and fruit I eat, the more veggies and fruit I crave.
Cravings. Are they a curse or a blessing? The answer to that depends on what we’re craving. And what we’re craving will always depend on whatever we’re consuming . . . the object of our desire or God and His truth.
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.
You were made for more,
Food can fill our stomachs but never our souls. Possessions can fill our houses but never our hearts. Sex can fill our nights but never our hunger for love. Children can fill our days but never our identities. Only by being filled with authentic soul food from Jesus—following Him and telling others about Him—will our souls ever be truly satisfied.
Then I stopped and remembered what I felt the Lord saying this week. Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale. . . . So, I had to stop and ask myself the following questions: Did I overeat this week on any day? No. Did I move more and exercise regularly? Yes. . . . Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? No. Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God? Nope. Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I’d had a successful, God-pleasing week? Yep!
we need to define ourselves by our obedience, not a number on the scale.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Teach me your way, LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, LORD my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
However, if I were really honest, I’d have to admit I made time for what I wanted to make time for. I always seemed to find time to watch a favorite TV show or chat with a friend on the phone.
Or read an entire book (for me)
Our flesh buys right into Satan’s lie that it’s not fair for things to be withheld from us. So we bite into the forbidden fruit and allow Satan to write shame across our heart.
And given enough power, temptation will consume our thoughts, redirect our actions, and demand our worship. Temptation doesn’t take kindly to being starved.
But [Jesus] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)
My body size is not tied to my happy. If my happy was missing when I was larger, it will still be missing when I get smaller.
Overindulgence is overindulgence. Eating or drinking in excess is a sin. The Bible calls it gluttony.
“Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags” (Proverbs 23:20–21). Here’s another: “A discerning son heeds instruction, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father” (Proverbs 28:7).
When I am struggling and considering a compromise, I will force myself to think past this moment and ask myself, How will I feel about this choice tomorrow morning?
consuming ill-sized portions and making unhealthy choices because we feel we deserve it or need it to feel better.
We aren’t to flee food. We need food. But we are to flee the control food can have over our lives.
If we are willing to obey God in the areas that he designates as harmful and dangerous, then we have the rest of life to enter into company with a Savior who loves us, and who guides and guards us in our walk with him.7
the rats ate more food to get the same amount of pleasure. Just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food. “They lose control,” [one of the researchers] says. “This is the hallmark of addiction.”9
Oh, what a difference. Jesus doesn’t compare. Jesus doesn’t condemn. Jesus doesn’t exaggerate. He simply says, Hey, I love you. Just as you are. But I love you too much to leave you stuck in this. So, let’s fully turn from those things that are not beneficial for you. I like that about Jesus. I like that a lot.
This freedom is not tied to a person’s size. There are painfully thin women weighted down spiritually and emotionally by feelings of defeat the same as women many sizes larger.
After all, the very downfall of humanity happened around a circumstance where a woman was tempted with food.
“He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave” (v. 20).
Jesus girls aren’t made to get stuck in a state of defeat. We were made to walk on paths headed toward victory. Not starting Monday, but starting right now.
