Your Weight Does Not Determine Your Worth
So, last week, I talked about “Your Weight Does Not Determine Your Worth” & this week, I want to touch on the topic of Gluttony.
While body image should not be the focus of our eating choices, we also should not ignore harmful eating habits, whether you eat to comfort yourself or to “solve” a problem or whether you consistently allow cravings to rule your decision-making with regards to food intake, despite possible harmful consequences, gluttony can affect us all–even the “skinny.”
Your weight does NOT determine your worth, but there IS value in taking care of the body God made–to honor Him & promote good body health.
Gluttony–A Sin Often Overlooked
Gluttony is an overindulgence in food… whether it be over-eating or eating to serve a craving or even eating to “solve” a problem. We need to be sure not to allow our eating habits to rule us & cause us harm.
As Jerry Bridges puts it in his book: “The Pursuit of Holiness,” what once used to draw out a heart of repentance has become something joked about in our social circles.
“Oh man, I ate waaaay too much! Haha, I’m STUFFED!” “I can’t wait to stuff myself on Thanksgiving! Better wear my “fat pants!” “I am craving this triple scoop sundae so badly that I’m going to go get one because I’m a fatty & I don’t care!” “Man, I know this may be bad for me, but we all die sometime, right?!” “I’m so upset! I am going to eat ice cream & chocolate because he broke my heart!”
God doesn’t shame you for being overweight. God doesn’t determine your worth to decline as the number on the scale increases, & we shouldn’t either.
But, God made our bodies, so we ought to care for them as gifts made by God. We ought to steward them well.
Is Gluttony Only for the Obese? NO.
So, when God mentions the sin of gluttony in the Bible (Philippians 3:19; Proverbs 23:20-21; Proverbs 25:16) , He is not trying to shame “fat people.” He warns us because He knows that gluttony can destroy us because not only is it damaging to our health & physical well-being, gluttony is taking our eyes off of Him as our help & turning them to food.
Because this is the case, you don’t have to be overweight to struggle with gluttony.
If you are eating simply to satiate yourself against angst, boredom, sorrow, fears of the unknown, etc., then you are turning to food instead of the One who can actually guide you, comfort you, heal you, strengthen you, & enable you.
When we eat simply to indulge ourselves, we are being careless with our body. We are being unkind to our bodies & dishonoring to God when we overeat or consistently eat things that cause it harm.
This doesn’t mean that we better know everything there is about our bodies, how they function, & know everything about what foods benefit it. We will never know it all.
But don’t let Satan trick you with an ALL OR NOTHING attitude toward your health. Do what you know is right & pray for God’s help with the rest.
Pray & Obey. Pray & Obey.
If you feel intimidated about asking God for help with this, thinking He will respond with something like, “FINALLY. Get out a notebook & remember & do ALL the things,” then you are so wrong. God is a gentle leader.
Pray about it. Ask God where your biggest abuse of your body is. Ask Him for a step you can take toward change. He is a gentle leader.
It’s also always important to pray because your man-made solution might be one that ends up causing your body even more harm. So, always surrender those concerns & questions to God for His guidance & wisdom.
My Lifelong Personal Battle
This has been a lifelong journey of struggle for me in this area of body image, eating for comfort, feeling my weight makes me ugly & devalued, etc.
This is not something I will likely unlearn overnight.
But, as I said, God is a gentle leader. He is helping me weed out the lies I grew up believing about my value being supposedly tied to my weight, as well facing up to my sin of gluttony that I often indulged in to soothe the hurts those lies brought me.
I am a work in progress. I am still obese. I fail some days & excel on others. I make mistakes & then try again.
In pursuing change of lifetime bad habits & false beliefs, those habits & beliefs will be my default & it will be easy to fail many times.
But my many failures do not erase my many successes. And my body appreciates every GOOD decision I make.
So, I will keep making mistakes in this journey, to “fail forward,” as I seek to treat my body with the care befit honoring its Maker.
And I will keep seeking my body’s Maker & Designer for help in healing the lies, in leading me in the right directions, & in enabling me to carry it through.
God Can & Will Make a Way As You Surrender to His Help–OBEDIENCE vs Victory
Habits I once thought impossible for my “fat” self have now become second nature. And as they become habits, I ask God to help me in the next step of changing my behavior to be more pleasing to our Holy, loving Almighty God. Baby steps in the direction of PROGRESS in making better habits that honor God’s gift to me–my body.
Where are you making compromise? Do you justify it because you’re skinny? Do you justify it because, “if only ________, then I would _______”? Do you justify it because everyone else seems okay with it?
Take your trauma & hurts to our loving, all-capable Almighty God. Ask for His healing. And ask for His help in living in such a way as to steward your God-made body well.
Shine HOPE by repenting of any gluttony habits you might be indulging in & determining to seek God’s help for change as you surrender in obedience to His baby step guidance toward better health & better body stewardship.
Coming Next Week
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Rani Bracelet (India)
(*The bracelet with blue & orange beads & hammered golden disc charms.)
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