I do not see or hear many sermons on the physical state of our bodies. It’s like it’s too personal of a topic. Just like I don’t hear many teachings on the other lust of the flesh like sexual immorality or the dark desire of Christians who love haunted and scary demonic movies or events. So today we’re going to tackle at least one of these… As you might’ve guessed, the status of our physical bodies.
By not teaching Christians about the value of their physical state, we’re indirectly teaching them to throw off moral restraints in this area. Throwing off moral restraints and keeping your food life in a box, exempt from your Christian values, is weakening your testimony to nonbelievers.
It’s also limiting God. It limits God because your health is a prerequisite to carrying around his message and doing what he’s needing you to do. How much more could you bring people to Christ than through a radical, outward, physical transformation? I know that God will use what was meant for your harm, for your good, but it’s going to require that you realize that your physical state matters. If you know it’s a sin to get drunk, why aren’t you applying the same physical Christian principles to overeating? If you know that it is wrong to have an extra marital affair, why aren’t you applying the same principles of cheating on your diet? These principles should be your Christian values that you live out and walk out in the spirit. If your flesh is weak, you must realize that your spirit is strong and willing. But you need to bring God’s truths into the light and see how his word applies even to your physical condition. All of God’s word applies to all your life. For example, blessings and curses. Not a fun or pretty topic, yet still true. There are blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. If you were stop reading this right now and think about that, you could come up with countless examples about how this applies to you even in weight loss. I don’t even need to give examples to you because you already know where it applies. The point is this, your physical state matters to God and it sends a message to the world. In my life, my physical state has been used, my transformation that is, to testify about the power of God in all areas of our lives. God showed me that I didn’t have a weight issue, I had a Faith issue. I had put my faith in diets and in people but never in God when it came to my weight loss or my food. God pointed out to me that it wasn’t spreading my faith onto my food life. In my head, my faith only applied to the important matters in my life like cancer or praying for safety on a road trip. The truth is I didn’t want God touching my guilty pleasures. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I knew it was wrong to walk through haunted houses, to read Fifty Shades of Grey, to drink wine daily, to run to coffee for energy, and to perpetually cheat on my meal plan. His temple, my body, looked like a place of worldly worship. I was living to gratify my flesh in every possible way, and it was evident in how I was living. God’s word changed all of that. I believed him when he said, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything you see, and pride in your own achievements and possessions. These are not from the father but are from the world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2:15)
I’m not saying that you’ll lose your salvation if you don’t lose weight. No, I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying however is that if you are cheating on your meal plan & your health is suffering because of your weight, then you are limiting God. You can’t physically do what he has called you to do if you don’t have the physical body in which to do it. If you’re thinking about food, flavor, and fullness more than you’re thinking about God, you need to have a long talk with him about worshiping false idols. Because we don’t even realize how much and how easily our bellies become our gods without us even realizing it and I firmly believe that this is exactly what the god of this world wants. My encouragement for you today is to wake up and see the prison cell that you are in. Put God higher in priority in your life over the lusts of your flesh. Step into the light and realize that you have the mind of Christ in you now so you can undo these patterns of thinking, feeling, and eating but it’s going to require Gods COMPLETE AND TOTAL help. God will heal your body and weight loss will be a result, but it only happens after he’s healed your soul. Your mind, will, and emotions need healing so that you can begin to be mastered by the spirit instead of being mastered by your flesh. Weight loss with God starts on the inside, and it takes time, but the results are everlasting with eternal consequences. He’s given you a talent and equipped you to invest that talent by using your spirit, soul, and body. Don’t waste it by letting bad health or fear of being seen because of how you look, cause you to live hiding your talents. Get out there. Do what you are called to do, yielding to the spirit as you partner with God to stop conforming to your old patterns of eating so that he can heal you, and restore your health, for his kingdom’s assignment on your life. Stop trusting your flesh and start trusting your father… Even in weight loss.
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