It’s Time To Shake Off The Weight
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
(Romans 12:1)
Losing weight is never an easy thing to do. Ok, for most people. Some are blessed to be able to stop drinking soda or stop eating hamburgers and the weight just falls off. Then you have the rest of us. Our whole diet has to be changed and we have to exercise three times harder just to lose a few pounds. Then you eat a couple things out of the ordinary and up pops those few pounds. Ok, maybe that’s just me.
Losing weight does take work. It requires being mindful of the types of food you eat and exercising the body to make it stronger. Lets admit it, we all like tasty foods. My personal preference is carbohydrates. That is my comfort food. Give me anything with pasta, white sauce, cheese, chicken, potatoes, country gravy, Italian or French bread and I instantly become happy! You can keep the chocolate, potato chips, ice cream (all the things my husband loves). I craved comfort foods. Sadly, I had to cut many of them out or eat very small amounts of them because I couldn’t function well after eating them. I would just want to sleep! It was hard to cut back at first. I went from drinking about a six pack of soda a day down to none and replaced it with water and coffee. Although I don’t deprive myself, I found that once I began changing my eating pattern, it slowly became the norm for me. Honestly, I don’t really miss all of my old comfort foods. When I do eat them, I can eat very little of them and be ok. But I know for me to work at my best level, it’s better for me to eat very little of them (or not at all) or find healthier ways to make them. These foods aren’t necessarily bad, but how they are made or how much we eat of them can make us gain extra added weight we don’t want and that isn’t healthy for us. The exercise I’m still working on.
We must apply this same concept to our spiritual lives. We must watch what we allow our eyes to see and ears to hear. What we allow into our minds can either make us spiritually healthy or unhealthy. If we view violent movies, pornography, and entertainment that isn’t healthy for our mind and heart, we eventually will become spiritually unhealthy:
“I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it.” (Psalm 101:3)
Now the question comes out “Surely, a little bit of this show or that type of movie won’t hurt?” A little bit of chocolate or chips won’t harm your body maybe once a day, but when you continue eating that little bit it over the course of time, you will begin to see the negative effects. You will slowly gain weight and maybe your cholesterol will go up or your sugar will become unstable. A little never seems like a lot because we can’t see the effects on the body until much later. Plus many foods today have additives and preservatives in them which affects your body even more.
When we begin to cut back on these things and remove them from our lives, we begin to lose the weight both physically and spiritually. The process and the effect it has on us is the same be it in the physical or spiritual. Spiritually speaking, we want to lose the spiritual weight of our issues so we can become healthier and move more freely. This means we must nourish ourselves with the Word of God and exercise daily by applying that Word to every situation. The longer you carry the spiritual weight (as the physical weight) the more weighed down you become and the sicker you become spiritually. Sometimes we feel it is impossible to get rid of character traits or views we’ve held for so long but that’s not true as Philippians 4:13 states:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
Through Christ’s strength we can overcome any issue, problem or addiction. It takes a renewing of the mind as it states in Romans 12:2. It takes relearning the right way of doing things just as we would when we change our eating habits. If we can change the way we eat, we can change the way we think. The negative comments made to you by others since you were young can be changed into positive ones that God has for you. Below are some comments you may have heard and then what God says about you:
Comment: You were a mistake!
God: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
Comment: You can’t do anything right! You are worthless!
God: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Comment: You are ugly!
God: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
Comment: Your sin (crime, addiction, issue) is so bad, not even God will forgive you!
God: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
God: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. (Matthew 12:31)
We must renew our minds with what God says, replacing it with what the world has told us. By doing this, repenting and changing our ways, and applying scripture to our daily lives, we will lose the spiritual weight we have carried around for so long and walk freely in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
If you are finding it difficult to lose the negative spiritual weight you’ve been carrying for so long, I challenge you to dive into the Word of God and allow Him to help you renew your mind and change your ways. Once you begin, and continue to do it, you will see a positive change come over you. I will also tell you that there will be others who will take notice and try to stop you from changing by reminding you of your past or mocking you but you must not allow that to stop you. Remember, it’s the enemy utilizing them, wanting to stop you as Satan knows you will become stronger in Christ and that is what he fears most…a strong, healthy Christian!
Lord, I ask you to help me to renew my mind and change my ways. I want to lose this negative spiritual weight and live a positive, healthy lifestyle in You. Help me to be strong and make the correct choices for my life in what I see and hear and what I nourish myself with. Help me to put away my old self and allow my new self to emerge, the one that you intended me to be. I am tired of my old ways and want them gone from my life forever. Thank you Lord because I know you have heard my prayer and am confident that you will answer it. I ask this in Jesus name…Amen.