Sometimes I get a most perverse enjoyment out of reading the way Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. I mean, these guys were the epitome of evil dressed in religion. In one of the most scathing rebukes leveled at these cultural and religious leaders of His day, Jesus nails them for a number of things, not the least of which was focusing on outward appearance in their “religiosity:”
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites!
You clean the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
But this morning, as I was enjoying my lethargy, wallowing in my apathy–calmly enjoying my quiet “quiet time”–I got smacked upside the head with a two-by-four as I read the above passage. There was no opportunity to be smug about the way Jesus had put them in their place. Earnestly, the Holy Spirit did the same with me:
You do this, child.
Do what, Lord?
You focus your attention on the outside of “the cup”–your appearance, your outward actions.
Well, Lord, I guess that is because that is what everyone *sees*…and I care about what they think of YOU based on what they SEE me do.
Child, is it really ME you are concerned about? Or what they will think of you?
Ok, so this is where I stopped…and conviction grew…and I knew the truth. In fact, I know my over-eating and my over-fixating on outward appearance is very much connected with the concepts Jesus referred to: greed and self-indulgence. What honest person who struggles with over-eating doesn’t think these two words describe it accurately?
In spite of recommending to others to focus on growing intimacy with the Lord and to get their eyes off of their size–the scale, their clothes, etc., — I, apparently, have been focusing, too, on the “outside of the cup.” Not only that, but I seem to claim that my focus is specifically for the sake of my “testimony.” Jesus said, “Hogwash!”
It is time for me to renew my commitment to cleaning the inside of the cup, to invest again in the *within* part of “Thin Within,” to invite the Lord to eradicate greed and self-indulgence in my life.
So the question is, what will I DO with this conviction? Where will I go with it?
If you have experienced this conviction, will you share here what God has led you to do to get your eyes off of the outside of the cup and to be more concerned with cleaning the inside of the cup?
I am making plans now to lead another Thin Within group online starting in January 2012. If you are interested in gathering once a week with other people on this journey, please consider joining us!
You will need a workbook, available by calling Thin Within at 877-729-8932 and letting Joe or Pam (or whoever answers the phone) that you would like the Rebuilding God’s Temple workbook kit #1. That is the best way to start if you have never been through Thin Within before. In fact, grab a few friends and do the study with them *and* meet with us in chat on Wednesdays. I may do that very thing myself! 🙂
If you *have* been through Thin Within before, you are welcome to use any of the workbooks. There are four of them and the themes in all the workbooks are the same so we can be in the same group together. All of us will have HOPE as our theme for week 1 and all of us will have BOUNDARIES as our theme for week 9, etc.
For more information about the workbook, here is an “infomercial!: 🙂
For this particular class, I will be using workbook #3 myself. Again, if you have never gone through the material before, please use the kit #1. 🙂
We will be meeting weekly on Wednesdays from 4:30-5:30 Pacific Time, 6:30 Central, and 7:30 Eastern. Our first meeting will be January 4th. You don’t need to have anything ready for that class meeting. Just come at class time to http://www.thinwithin.org/chat.php .
The study lasts 12 weeks.
If Wednesdays don’t work for you, it is possible we will be offering classes at other times. Check at the Thin Within website.
Hope you will join us! Be sure to order your workbook kits! 🙂
Early November 2006 I began applying myself faithfully to the Thin Within principles. I released about 15 pounds by the end of the year even though “statistics indicate” that most Americans gain about 8 pounds (on the average) between Halloween and the New Year.
So I thought I would share some tips that I learned then and have been applying this year, too. I guess by about the end of September, the grand total that the Lord had removed from my body was about 100 pounds and it is staying off! Yay! Praising the Lord for that! (It is wonderful to know that little mistakes don’t have to spell absolute disaster!) Pride goes before a fall, though, so it is with a humble heart (please make it so, Lord!) that I share these thoughts.
1. Figure out why you are going to a social occasion like a party or family gathering. (See chapter 25 in Thin Within.)
– Write down your purposes in attending and plan accordingly. Most of us, once we have decided to surrender this area of our lives, don’t go to parties intending to overeat. So ask yourself if it is because you want to connect with family, friends and co-workers, it is easier to accept that food isn’t required for that.
– Then, when you get to the event, achieve your goal! Socialize or network or whatever it might be!
2. When planning to attend a social event that includes food, plan to be at a zero (stomach totally empty) by eating a smaller meal earlier in the day.
– It may be unreasonable for you not to eat at some events–like sit-down holiday dinners and the like. If your event is at 7pm, for instance, and you get hungry at 5:30 pm–you are definitely at a 0 at 5:30pm–then have just a few crackers or a cup of milk or something that will just remove the hunger. You don’t need to eat to a 5. This way, you will be more likely to arrive at your holiday dinner at a 0 and ready to eat.
– You can also “ride the 0” a little while unless you know yourself well enough to know that you will have a hard time eating slowly if you get “too hungry.” When we eat too fast, it is easy to eat way too much.
3.) When you are eating 0 to 5 at a holiday party and there are TONS of choices from which to choose, you can look at all that is offered and evaluate before you choose the foods you will eat which choices are most likely to be “teasers,” “pleasers,” and “whole body pleasers” (see chapter 18 in Thin Within). You want to be “picky” about what and how much of each “pleaser” or “whole body pleaser” food you select.
– Identify which foods offered are teasers and don’t even “go there.”
– If something is available all year long (like fresh french bread) you may want to forego selecting it in favor of something that is a favorite at holiday time (chocolate peppermint pie? LOL!).
4. ) Look around the party or dinner for a naturally thin eater and note their behaviors. See if you can spot someone who is naturally thin, but who is enjoying the party without overindulging. (This may be tough as most Americans use holidays as an excuse to eat way more than we need…thus the “average” American gaining 8 pounds in two month’s time.)
5.) Sometimes people give gifts of food. It is true that some people love on others by giving food any time of the year–all the more during the holidays! In Thin Within, there is nothing wrong with having a small piece of whatever food that you receive, of course. If you know that you can withstand temptation to overeat it, feel free to have it in your home, of course! But if you know that you can’t handle the temptation, then here are some suggestions:
– When someone wants to send you home with a bunch of treats 🙂 either politely tell them “No, thank you,” or oblige and state (or not) that you will be glad to share the treats with others…then re-gift them as soon as possible before temptations lures you into eating them.
– I found that friendships didn’t end and family members didn’t disown me if I refused food from them. Maybe your friends and family are different…but really, when you consider where “people pleasing” has gotten most of us, it is like a death sentence. Most people who love us well enough to give us food gifts are aware of our struggle. Depending on the person, I have admitted my weakness as I explain why I have to turn down their kind offer.
– When you end up with treats anyhow…THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH FLUSHING THEM DOWN THE TOILET THE MINUTE YOU WALK THROUGH THE DOOR! If you are like me and sometimes need “permission” to do something so drastic, consider this a blanket permission… “Flush the cookies, cakes, pies, candy, whatevers…down the toilet!”
6.) Put the fork down between bites when you are eating out or at a holiday party. This helps slow me down quite a bit any time…not just for holiday parties.
7.) Maybe most importantly, EXTEND GRACE to yourself. If you “blow it” for a party or a meal or even for a day or a week…just OBSERVE and CORRECT! This isn’t a diet, so you don’t have to feel like you “blew it!” Instead, you just had a step or two back on your path…but forge ahead “forgetting what is behind!” Remember this is a journey…a life long journey! God extends grace to you in all things, so extend some to yourself!
What about you? Do you have strategies that have helped you make it through the holidays?
What do I expect of my God? To merely “put up” with me (if that)? Do I think he rolls his eyes when I ask him–again–about helping me with something that I struggle with?
This God, this King–he is ABLE. Not just ABLE, but able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or even imagine! I can imagine a lot–if I dare. God challenges me in this passage to dare to dream big and dare to look to Him for what He has in mind–which is bigger still.
How will he accomplish these amazing things? According to HIS power. HIS power spoke the galaxies into existence. HIS power blew the grave open when Jesus conquered death. HIS power will throw Satan into the Lake of Fire forever. Are you kidding me? 🙂 HIS power can do ANYthing!
And get this! His power is at workwithin us. This isn’t some theoretical “out there” power. This isn’t some “new agey think-it-and-it-will-happen” power. This is God’s power that is at work within us–with ME–within YOU.
But one caveat…that last little phrase at the end of this passage is vital… God gets the glory. If I desire His power in my life to help me lose weight (or to do anything) so that I can “win friends and influence people,” if I want to impress the people at the class reunion or cause the ladies at church to ooooh and aaaah, if I in any way want glory, then I pit myself against the Lord. He uses His power in my life for His glory.
How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
Isaiah 48:11
I was created to proclaim His glory!
Even everyone who is called by My name,
whom I have created for My glory,
whom I have formed, whom I have made.
– Isaiah 43:7
It amazes me that God can and will do immeasurably more than anything I could ask or imagine and that he does it according to His power that, for some baffling reason, he has placed in me…He is amazing, good, kind. It is my job to be sure to point all the recognition, all the fame, all the glory to Him! Sounds like a great deal to me!
Happy Thanks Giving. This is a day that is so uniquely named. Just the name of it makes us pause to think about a Great Benefactor, to Whom we give thanks on this day.
When the hoped for job comes through, when there is an unexpected check in the mail, when the wayward child returns home, when the test results come back “negative” or “benign,” we eagerly thank God for His goodness.
But He is good no matter what circumstances we face. Even when the job falls through or is given to another, even when there is more month than money, when rebellion strikes our home like a tidal wave, when the doctor begins his sentence with “I’m sorry, but…” God is STILL good. He is STILL on the throne. We live in a Genesis 3 world. It is fallen. Suffering will happen. God is still good.
It is at times like this when this passage takes on a particularly challenging meaning:
And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate
to make the people holy through his own blood.
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp,
bearing the disgrace he bore.
For here we do not have an enduring city,
but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Through Jesus, therefore,
let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—
the fruit of lips that confess his name.
– Hebrews 13:12-15
Thanks Giving is crying out with Job no matter what circumstances, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” This doesn’t come “naturally.” In fact, it is counter-intuitive. But in this giving, in this sacrifice out of desperation, I find myself connected with my God in a way that takes me by surprise. In the midst of the suffering, the grief, the sadness, there is a mysterious joy when I offer the sacrifice of praise.
Lately, I am asking God to cause me not just to endure my crosses in life, but to embrace them as needful tools in the hand of a good, loving, perfect God. Those very things that I rue, are the very instruments through which God is growing me to be more like my Savior–the reason I am on this planet.
As I choose to Give Thanks, I am in a place of humility. In this place of humility, I see God as He is and me as I am. I see all the many good gifts and even the suffering he allows in my life as blessings. This puts me at peace. Surrendering to His good authority. In this place, I don’t grab for more than He has apportioned me. More stuff, more food, more love, more recognition…I don’t insist on having more than my share, more than He has determined that I need.
What challenges is God assigning to you that you might offer a sacrifice of praise?Will you choose to do so today?
I have been so quiet on the blog over the past 18 months (relative to my multiple posting weekly previously) I think because…well…I want to have my “act” together to share something with visitors here. That has been an influence keeping me from writing since I DON’T have my “act together!” Ha! I bet you are surprised to hear that!
Also, I think at some level I feel that pressure all the more because I enjoy occasionally having a writing and speaking ministry. What would happen if people who might consider inviting me to come and speak saw me as I…gasp!…really AM? Oh no! LOL! I am convinced that if you saw the REAL me, you would definitely NOT like what you see, so we can’t let that happen can we?
Additionally, for me, blogging has always been very earthy. It is what I do from my gut, many times on the fly. Since I have done some writing for publication in the past and may in the future, I feel this sense that my blog has to reflect my “good” writing. Well, if I am going to use this blog for the very thing I started blogging for–for authentic processing–that may have to happen when I don’t have time to be sure my writing is “good.” Especially given that it takes a LOT of time for *my* writing to get anything close to “good.” So if you are a potential agent or editor…my apologies. I have to get back to what is most important to me…authentic processing and ministry from that place in the hopes that God will redeem the gunk in my life to encourage other sojourners. That is more important than appearances, a book deal, or what people think of me. God is at work in his people. I SO want people to know that and rest in it!
So when you put all of these factors together, I have chosen not to blog as much.
Today, I am returning to blogging from my gut. I am setting aside my need, insistence, hope (?), that I need to blog only when all is right and my writing’s good :-). In the past–when those things weren’t even on my radar screen–there seemed to be a ministry going on here. Not just me to visitors, but even visitors to one another. I hope for that again. And definitely from the visitors TO me, too!
So starting now, I am going to be real–again. God has allowed the experiences of the past 18 months to blow the lid off the charmed existence I had previously enjoyed. I know my trials are NOTHING compared to what many of you face, but for me–a colossal wimp–these have rocked my world:
My husband–even the easy going, easy-to-get-along-with, rock of a man had a major depression hit him in June of 2011. Although the worst is now behind us (it seems), the affect of the year with depression is still strongly felt. I could stop right here…Truthfully, this has been all it took to knock my legs out from under me.
But, additionally, my “special needs” 19 year old son has dug in his heels and quit school — we are struggling with what “tough love” needs to look like right now (and have for the past three months).
My Mom’s mental health has deteriorated dramatically…just in the past two months.
Saturday I am having to have one of my horse’s put down.
You know what? I believe in the power of praising God through these things. Not as some form of denial, but as an authentic response. In desperation, I cry out to God. I am totally desperate for him. I can’t NOT praise Him. I will choose to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith. What is seen is temporary and what is UNseen is eternal!
Something happens when I allow my eyes to focus on my circumstances or even the loving people in my life–food seems to be where I go. Yes, even after all this time! I would have thought that this wouldn’t be the case after five years of applying the Thin Within principles relatively “faithfully.” But nope. There is yet a need for my healing. Wow…fancy that. I STILL need a Savior! 🙂
How about for you? Do you have circumstances that are challenging you to fix your eyes on Jesus?
When we feel like we can’t do this thing, when we think we won’t manage life today…Good! We aren’t supposed to be able to do it all in our own strength. We are *supposed* to need Him. When we feel like we can’t manage the “self-discipline” to do what we need to relative to food, eating, an active lifestyle and honoring God with our eating and drinking…GOOD! We are *supposed* to be utterly dependent on Him in the moment.
Let’s do what Max Lucado encourages us to do and turn setbacks into opportunities. If you binged last night, flip it on its lid. Instead of condemning yourself, view it as an opportunity now to grow in dependence on your Savior and Lord. Let’s do this together. THIS is what the Lord is after! Not independent perfection (which we can never attain…), but DEPENDENT need of Him and reliance upon His Spirit.
26 “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. 27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’
Deuteronomy 33:26-27
God is so sweet to time and again, bring me back to the very things that tether my heart to his. I am being reminded this week of His character.
He rides on the heavens to help me and on the clouds of His majesty. (Isn’t that cool?)
He is eternal.
He is my refuge.
Underneath me are HIS everlasting arms.
He drives out the enemy before me.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2
He is my dwelling place–my refuge. I don’t need to try to find solace in a human (I am so needy that no human can meet that deep need that only God can meet) or a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream 😉 (that definitely doesn’t work).
The truth is, at the heart of my struggle with maintaining an eternal perspective is, I think, I lack of trust in God. I hate to admit that, but if I truly trusted him, I wouldn’t attempt to “wrest” control of my life circumstances from Him again and again. So, being reminded of His character soothes my restless, rebellious, tendencies, but–more–gives me motivation to quit striving with God. Get my mind, feet, hands up out of the temporal and to trust this One who is eternal, powerful, GOOD, loving, gracious, compassionate…
With such a God as this, why wouldn’t I want to have HIS perspective on life? Why wouldn’t I want to trust Him with what He is doing. It is so odd that I trust Him for my eternal destination and security, but not in the day-to-day of life?
Note: If you want to participate in an amazing study, A Heart To See Forever by Catherine Martin, please visit this link. Catherine has audios, videos, blog, and a community for people involved in the study online. I have enjoyed Catherine’s material in the past and this book is already among my favorites!
I am delighted to be involved in a study by Catherine Martin called A Heart To See Forever. God brought this study in my life RIGHT WHEN I NEEDED IT MOST! Even though I have written and spoken on this very thing, I had wandered far from it.
If you are interested in joining Catherine and her community in studying this material, visit her website at http://www.quiettime.org. I am so glad that I have done that.
The eternal perspective affects my NOW. It totally relates to those of us who are struggling with “food issues” in our lives. I had some time this morning before hubby and I check out of our hotel to “wax eloquent” about this, so I recorded a video. I hope that if you listen in, it encourages you. (It isn’t pretty, but the truths are powerful! LOL!)
