My daughter is a great kid. She is one of the best–even at 15 years of age. But there are times when I catch us going back and forth about something–usually about how she has been sooooo kind to her brother. It typically results in her declaring with great pride how she has done such-and-such and what lucky people we are for her doing what is expected of her. What is right. At times like these she earnestly proclaims what a wonderful person she is for her obedience and typically I respond with something like “…for doing what you are supposed to be doing!?”
It struck me yesterday that I do the same thing…when I am walking in obedience, I tend to get pretty puffed up. “Gee, look at me now…I am obedient.” The Lord is such a gentle Father, “Yes, child, you are doing what you are supposed to be doing….”
I wondered if over the past few years, I have allowed this thinking to go on. Then, when I notice how prideful I have gotten about my obedience, I have dealt with it, not by crucifying pride, but by stopping the obedience! It is as if I know my pride is a problem, but rather than dealing with the PRIDE at the place where it needs to be dealt with, I cut off the obedience…problem “solved.” Tough to be prideful when you are back to license again. In fact, much to the contrary–shame breeds there.
…for it is God who works in you
to will and to act
according to his good purpose.
Philippians 2:13
This time, as God has allowed me to string together a series of moments given to him (obedience), I have seen this tendency coming. It still flabbergasts me. He has, again, lovingly reminded me that it is HE who is at work in me even making me WANT to be obedient. Additionally, I can’t even take credit for the choices I make, the ability to say no to temptation or yes to a good choice. His Spirit is at work in me causing me to WILL and ACT according to HIS good purpose.
So this time, rather than cut off the pride by cutting off what I am proud over, I will take it to Him…praise Him that HE is at work in me, causing me to WILL and to ACT according to HIS purpose, commit to pressing on and confessing pride. I will press on all the more. This is totally different than before! WHOO HOO!
More than finding the “right” weight-loss program, more than exercising more, or doing everything in “just the right balance,” practicing gratitude does amazing things from the inside out. I know I have proclaimed this here at the blog a lot, but today, Thanksgiving Day 2009, it bears repeating!
Let me share a story to illustrate this. Mary’s daughter just moved her mom out of an independent living situation in an apartment into an assisted living facility. Mary has Alzheimers. Before she moved, she was miserable and angry all the time. Now that she has moved, rather than following the pattern of most people when their “independence” seems taken from them, Mary is much happier.
The ironic thing is, the primary reason for Mary’s change in perspective is that when Mary lived on her own in her apartment, she plastered Post-It notes up all over the walls and cabinets with reminders of what she was angry about. Without these notes, she would forget she was angry.
In a new environment, Mary no longer has these reminders to help her focus on her anger (justified or otherwise). Having forgotten all, she is now much more light-hearted! Everyone notices the difference.
I got to thinking about this. In a very real way, Mary wall-papered not just her walls and cabinents with reminders of wrongs done to her, but she wall-papered her mind. I have to wonder if doing the same thing with all the blessings God has bestowed on us might not have the same effect. I don’t know about you, but I often forget the reasons I have to be thankful. What if I were to stick Post-It notes up all over the house with reminders of blessings–reasons I have for being thankful? Might this not affect how I live just as Mary’s Post-It notes affected her attitude and how she lived?
I know that when I focus on God’s amazing character and the wonderful way that he interacts with me, I have so much praise that wells up in my heart. It is hard to complain and gripe about food and my body when I allow HIS greatness to eclipse all my petty complaints!
As I practice this, it transforms me from the inside out. From someone who grabs for more, to someone who releases excess. From someone who finds something to criticize (about myself or others), to someone who delights in things formerly taken for granted. From someone who insists “I can TOO have that!” to someone who lovingly delights in offering to the Lord whatever he requires of me.
In this journey I have been on, I know for a fact that gratitude has been foundational in “flipping the switch” for me. It is time for me to return to a commitment to practicing gratitude.
Thank you, Lord, for the reminders you provide of how much I have to be thankful for.
Some months ago, someone came to our church on Sunday to be a guest speaker. His message was from Revelation 1 entitled “It’s Not About You.” After church, my 15 year old daughter and I talked about what we had heard. She said something like: “As I looked at the passage that he was preaching from, I wondered, ‘What does this have to do with not being about me?’ Then I realized…that was the point…it really ISN’T about me!”
You know what? It really isn’t!
As I did the study in Ephesians chapter 1 yesterday, I must admit…I saw afresh that God sure does go the extra mile in making me feel like I am worth SO much to Him! He has attributed value to me! But, even so…I came away from the study aware of the desired outcome of God’s goodness to me (all those verbs you may have listed done for the direct and indirect object–us)… So that I might be for the praise of His glorious grace. Am I living for HIS praise?
Even when it seems like it is about me, it is about the amazing God we serve!
Think about something for a minute…
With our obsession with food, eating, and our bodies, or our obsession with our obsession (dieting, exercise and all the accompanying thoughts, planning and scheming or beating ourselves up accordingly), we tend to make life all about us. This is one reason why choosing to focus on God and His character, HIS love, HIS heart for other people can have such a huge impact on healing us of our “me-drivenness.”
He is our hope for healing and the One who sets us free. A fabulous life results from pursuing God’s glory, not our own. (Smith and Halliday, HEAL, page 105)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45
Bringing it Home: How can you allow God to take your healing to a new level? In what ways can we take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on God and on others? It isn’t about me. It really isn’t. How can I get on board with God’s eternal purposes?
Begin to think of what you will do next as you contemplate this journey through the HEAL book coming to an end. What will you study next? What will you do to reach your goals and objectives to be healthier physically, spiritually, emotionally? Plan now for what will come next. If you have an accountability partner, you could plan together. If you don’t have an accountability partner, consider prayerfully asking someone to help you in this way. It can make a world of difference! It is so easy to remain STUCK when we isolate. Ask God to help you have the humility it may take to partner up with someone for 3 months and see if he does something amazing!
Read and work through Lesson 6: Abundant Living, found on pages 105-113.
Keep visiting here at the blog regularly and participate in the comments option. In this way, you solidify anything God is teaching you and also minister to others who visit and see your comments–even for months to come!
Finally we come to the Living Room Session for Lesson 5.
Oh! How I wish I could see you face to face!
If I could summarize lesson 5 in the HEAL book, it would be found in this sentence found in Isaiah 30:18:
The LORD longs to be gracious to YOU;
he rises to show YOU compassion.
Isn’t that amazing? I wonder why I keep him longing to extend his grace to me? Why do I insist on returning again and again to the law? Why do I turn my back as he rises to show me compassion? Why do I not just swim in the ocean of His grace and bask in the pleasure of enjoying his compassion!?
If I were sitting in my living room with you all, I would have us break out our bibles for our time together today–a real bible study! 🙂 My goal…for us to capture, even for a few moments, the heart of God for you and for me. So do this with me ok? At the very least, get out a piece of paper to write down your thoughts. You have to go to work a bit for today’s blog! 🙂 (Remember, imagine we are all sitting around a living room–a cozy fire going, tea kettle on the stove, the scent of a delicious cinnamon candle burning!)
Open your bible to Ephesians 1:3-14 or click on this link and find it in a new browser tab or window. Even better if you print it out so you can write on it or mark in your bible.
1.) Begin by inviting God to show you His Truth about what HE declares about Himself and about you. Ask him to show you and to help you to believe what He says in His Word.
2.) Ask Him to show you how believing Him and what this passage says about you and about Him can affect your relationship with food, eating, and yourself (and others, too!).
3.) Now, please read through Ephesians 1:3-14 casually the first time and get a feel for the passage–if you can, read it out loud and with expression!
4.) What words describe the kind of “feeling” you get as you read it all the way through? Is this passage instructional? Is it rebuking? Is it encouraging? Is it to relate history or an account of something that Paul has experienced? Can you imagine being a part of the new group of believers at Ephesus, years ago when this letter was first read to you? How might it have made you feel? How does it make you feel to read it today?
5.) As you know, verbs are action words. Underline in your bible and/or list in your journal all the verbs that are attributed to God in this passage. Note if any are past tense (God *has* done this…), present tense (God *is* *doing* this…), or future tense (God *will* *do* this…). We miss a bit in our English translations, but, even so, we can get plenty of what God intends for us to see through this exercise!
6.) WHY does God choose (or why DID he choose) to do these things? Note especially verse 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14
7.) Who are the beneficiaries of these action words? Who received the action? (In grammar, I think this is called direct or indirect object, if that helps!)
8.) What do YOU have to do in order to experience the action, in order to be the recipient of the action? If I asked this right, the answer will be…apparently, nothing…But to experience these things in real, vibrant, living color, you may have to BELIEVE that it is true!
9.) So what do you think about what this passage says about how GOD feels about YOU?
10.) What kind of God is described in this passage?
11.) Why does this matter? How will believing what God says about you and about himself make a difference in your life relative to food, eating, exercising, your view of your body, etc…?
You can close your time by asking the Lord to help you to believe the lists that you have made. They are in His Word and He longs for you to embrace it through and through.
Share with us here at the blog anything you may have discovered!
One of my favorite authors through the years has been Jan Johnson. For a number of years, I have eyed a devotional book she wrote some time back, but given I didn’t want a typical “devotions for dieters” book, as that would be far from productive, I hesitated. About two months ago, I went ahead and purchased Surrendering Hunger by Jan Johnson. I have not been disappointed (I haven’t gotten very far in it yet!).
What I read today dovetails perfectly with what we have been talking about in lesson 5 of HEAL:
My choices are no longer limited. I can pick up and go somewhere at the last minute without wondering what I’ll eat, if I’ll like it enough, and when I’ll exercise. I’m free to gratefully eat whatever meal is put in front of me. Johnson, Surrendering Hunger, p. 51
I have an asterisk and a big “YES!” in the margin next to Jan’s words.
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
