Have you ever died a piece of cloth? It is so important to be sure that the entire thing is completed saturated. If it isn’t, the change will be inconsistent or mottled, at best.
I want my heart, mind and life to be “dyed” with truth–totally 100% SATURATED.
I was struck–even in the middle of my tizzy fit–by how many times verses from Romans 8 are quoted to me. I have to admit…there are times when it makes me roll my eyes. Really? Someone is going to quote “God works all things together for good”…aGAIN? Or “We are more than conquerors!” “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!” or ” There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ.”
Really, when you think about it, Romans 8 may be one of the most quoted chapters in all of Scripture.
So, even with an attitude, I wondered with my journal and bible open to Romans 8, what TRUTH would I believe if I believed ONLY what Romans 8 has to say? This is the list I came up with:
I am not condemned (v. 1)
I am free from the law of sin and death (v.1)
The righteous requirements of the law have been fully met in me (v. 4)
I have my mind set on what the Spirit desires (v. 5)
I have life and peace (v. 6) <–an important one for me since I tend to make peace and idol if left to my own devices!
I am controlled by the Spirit (v. 9)
I belong to Christ (v. 9)
Christ is in me (v. 10)
I am led by the Spirit of God (v.14)
I am a child of God (v. 14)
I received a Spirit of sonship (v. 15)
I am God’s child. He is my Abba Daddy (vs. 15, 16)
I am an heir of God (v. 17)
I share in his suffering (v. 17) <— This made me wonder how much of my suffering in my current trials are my own doing and not about suffering with Christ at all?
I will share in His glory (v. 17)
There is a glory ahead that far outweighs my present suffering (v. 18)
The Spirit helps me in my weakness (v. 16)
The Spirit prays for me when I don’t know how/what to pray (v. 26)
The Spirit prays according to God’s will (v. 27)
God works all things for good for me (v. 28)
I love God (v. 28)
I have been called according to God’s purpose (v. 28)
He has predestined me (v. 30)
He has called me (v. 30)
He has justified me (v. 30)
He has glorified me (v. 30)
God is FOR me (v. 31)
God gave His son for me (v. 32)
God graciously gives me all things! (v. 32)
Jesus prays for me (v. 34)
Nothing can separate me from God’s love (vs. 35, 39)
I am more than a conqueror! (v. 37)
What, then, shall I say in response to this? (v. 31)
Truly… what would happen for me…for you…if we believed even one third of this list? How might it affect our eating? I know it would affect mine. I didn’t get to carry 100 extra pounds on my frame twice just by eating foods that sounded good. I ate because I was resentful and bitter, because I wanted to celebrate, commiserate. I ate for holidays, I ate for vacations, I ate after vacations and after holidays. I ate because of nice things said to me and mean things said to me. In short, I ate for a million lies that I believed…that somehow food was going to make whatever it was better. LIE.
So, any one of those statements above, could be like a sword (of the Spirit, the Word of God) challenging the right of the lie to exist in my life.
How About You?
Might some of these truths in the list above make good material for truth cards? 🙂
What impact would it have on your eating if you believed Romans 8?
Image Source: iStockPhoto Don’tcha Just Love a Happy Eater? 🙂
The pig has nothing to do with this blog post except he made me smile. 🙂
Which is saying something. You see…I am in the middle of a tantrum.
I know. I am not supposed to have those, right?
Well, I am. So there.
Why, you may wonder? Why am I pitching a major fit? Melting down? Having a conniption?
The answer–if anything I ever teach is true–is probably wrapped up in something ridiculous like “I believe a LIE” or a whole BOATLOAD of lies. Truly, the heart of rebellion often is found in the littlest seed of a lie that was coddled, nurtured and given a chance to grow and take over.
I hate even typing those words right now because I guess that next to that little seed of a lie (lies) is the fact that I WANT to get strength from my anger, frustration…I want to OVERINDULGE in resentment and bitterness.
You see, God seems to be saying NO to me so often about all manner of things…BIG things…things that I thought were his will for my life… In fact, things that I could make a great case from God’s Word about! I wouldn’t have to take anything out of context!
And since HE is saying NO to me in BIG ways, I just don’t want to say no to me.
So, if I want to make myself feel better by eating, I don’t want to say NO to me about it.
If I want to eat “just because,” then that is a good enough reason for me as far as I am concerned.
I sure hope you can’t relate.
Dismantling The Lies
1. Buried in my attitude is the belief that life should be peaceful, predictable, and go the way I think it should go.
2. Buried in my attitude is a judgment of God–I have found him wanting. (Really?)
3. Buried in my attitude is short-sighted idiocy if I think that there will be no consequences to making choices about my eating ignoring God-given boundaries.
4. Buried in my attitude is a belief that eating whatever I want whenever I want will somehow offset my disappointment about other things in my life…that eating will make me happy in proportion to the heartache and frustration I feel. Or that eating that way will “get God back” or “change his mind.”
What Now?
This summer we have been studying recognizing the lies we believe and replacing them with truth.
So, let’s do look at the lies, replace them with truth, and see if we can come out the other side and call it a VICTORY.
1. The truth is that life isn’t peaceful, predictable and it often won’t go the way I think it should go. I believe this is why the bible tells me again and again things like “Set your minds on things above where Christ is seated…when Christ, who is your life, appears, you will also appear with him in glory,” “fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal,” “these light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all,” fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross and scorned its shame.” All of these things tell me that if I focus on what I see–the heartache and pain and my interpretation of God’s Divine “NO!”–I am missing it. What is unseen is something far greater than unrestrained gluttonous indulgence in favorite foods could ever give me and far outweighs the challenges I face.
Is this true for you, too?
2. Who am I to judge God? Do I really want to “go there?” His ways are NOT my ways and while I still don’t understand how what is happening could possibly be his will, it apparently is. He has ordained it for his purposes. Maybe, as much as I don’t like it, it’s like John Piper says: God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even life itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need.
Is this true for you, too?
3. My choices to eat outside of boundaries God has set for me have plenty of repercussions! I have been in that place before…where I kept on eating…I got physically unhealthier, loathed myself, was emotionally and spiritually numb (which isn’t a good thing, even though being emotionally numb may sound appealing right now). It is time to STOP IT THIS INSTANT!!!
Is this true for you, too?
4. The truth is eating whatever I want whenever I want will NOT offset my disappointment about other things in my life… eating will NOT make me happy in proportion to the heartache and frustration I feel. Not only that, but the situation that causes me such horrible disappointment, grief, frustration and heartache WILL NOT CHANGE FOR THE BETTER and I will go through it not being present to God and what HE wants to accomplish in me. It will be doubly AWFUL (if that is possible).
Is this true for you, too?
Do you have anything you are facing that is causing you to be frustrated, angry, to have a temper tantrum with God over your eating? What lies are at the heart of this? What truths ca you replace the lies with?
“I don’t care what my boundaries are…I wasn’t thinking about life on a day like this one when I ‘committed’ 0 to 5 eating.”
“Given what I am facing, surely God doesn’t expect me to just be ‘good’ after a day like today!!!”
“It’s just not fair. How come my sister can eat whatever she wants and never gain weight! It makes me crazy!”
“I am going to hang out on the boat this weekend with the ice chest, snacks, good friends, and just kick back. I’m not going to worry about my eating for a day! I have been good, after all. I deserve a break!”
Can you identify with these statements? Chances are, we all can.
In our society we are told that we deserve the best, we deserve all we can grab. Life should be fair! There is never a need to be sad or uncomfortable with so many options for making ourselves feel happy!
These are lies that we sometimes tell ourselves–lies that take us outside of our God-given boundaries of eating between physical hunger and physical satisfaction. If we want to really experience the victory that we have longed for, we have to be willing to recognize the lies when they appear and replace them with God’s truth. That is what our “Renewing of the Mind” bible study is about this summer. We want to change the way we think, because what we think, affects what we believe, and what we believe, affects our actions. Our actions over time establish patterns and it is those patterns that bring forth fruit in our lives…the results that we either rejoice in or are discouraged by–both in our character and outwardly.
If we want to choose a fruitful life that reflects the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we have to start with what we tell ourselves. How often do we tell ourselves we are entitled to “the good life?” Is this creating an unworkable belief that runs counter to realizing our godly goals?
Here is a 7 minute video on this subject (if you are an email subscriber, you may have to visit the website in order to see it):
I believe that if Justification is a primary reason we eat outside of our 0 to 5 boundaries, then Entitlement is its twin. Truly, if we could eliminate Justification Eating and Entitlement Eating, much of our eating outside of 0 and 5 would stop altogether!
Consider how wonderfully refreshing it is to live with integrity, acknowledging and praising the God of the Universe as he walks personally with you, inviting you into a life of discovery. He is sufficient! No, maybe not in the way we have come to expect in our world of drive-thrus, instant coffee, and microwave ovens. We think we are entitled to bigger, faster, and more. But our God IS huge! His glory fills the entire earth and he invites us to step up into intimacy with him–even as we train ourselves for godliness. It is SOOoooo worth it!
Assignment:
1.) Each week, I have asked you to evaluate if GOD has called you to a primary boundary of eating 0 to 5. If you aren’t convinced that this is something God is calling you to do, I believe you won’t be successful. You will find a million reasons NOT to eat 0 to 5. But if you know God is calling you to do it, if you have a conviction that is deep and abiding, then write it down in your journal and each time you reaffirm that this is, indeed, a conviction that comes to you from God, date it in your journal. I urge you to do this today, too–even if you already did yesterday.
2.) Evaluate if you need to adjust your secondary boundaries. Have you successfully lived with the secondary boundaries you established for yourself previously? It might be time to move forward…to add another one or tweak a prior secondary boundary. For those of you new to this, if you have noticed that you are unaware of physical satisfaction as it approaches, you can observe and correct–see if there are any trends as you look over the past week or so. Are your eating occasions outside of 0 to 5 (your primary boundary) when you are in the car? When you watch TV? Typically limited to one food in particular or when you are with a certain friend? If so, this provides the perfect opportunity to establish a secondary boundary to support you relative to that trend. If you are unclear what secondary boundaries can be helpful to you, post a question here in the comments section. Chances are, someone has dealt with the same challenge as you and has an idea for some supportive secondary boundaries!
3.) Visit this page at Barb Raveling’s website–read and do the bible study and journaling activities on the page. You can print her blog post out and then journal your answers if you like.
4.) What do you believe about entitlement? How has it been affecting your eating?
5.) In the video, I gave the example of my driving as another area of my life where I struggle with an attitude of entitlement. How about you? Where do you see an attitude of entitlement: “I deserve the good life.” “Life should be fair.” or “I shouldn’t have to suffer!” affecting you? What are God’s truths about these situations?
6.) In the video, I mention four steps that can help you eliminate an attitude of entitlement. Try one (or more) of the following and see if it helps you!
Create Truth Cards that remind you daily the truth about entitlement, what God’s view of this is, whether life should be fair or not, and all that comes to the one who is willing to suffer if God calls you to do so. Here is a video about Truth Cards.
7.) Share here with us what God shows you about “Entitlement Eating” this week. How can we pray for you?
8.) Recording of our online class from this week of study (it is a sound file only, so don’t expect a video):
Description:
“I deserve the good life!” “Life should be fair!” “I deserve to never be sad or uncomfortable and if I am any of these things, I will use food to make me feel better because it is my right!”
Many of us have experienced this. Some of us may even live with a sense of entitlement. If we do, chances are we will never be consistent in our Thin Within efforts to eat between the parameters of 0 and 5 (or hunger and satisfaction).
What is God’s view of this attitude? What are we to do instead? How?
Have you ever eaten something at a meal when you were at “The Perfect Zero,” only to feel what seemed like moments later like you had a HUGE blood sugar dive? I call this the “Crash and Burn” phenomenon.
I know many people are concerned about waiting for physical hunger for fear they will experience the “Crash and Burn.” For me, this isn’t potentially detrimental, though I know for some with diagnosed blood sugar issues, it may be. So please, if you are insulin resistant, pre-diabetic or have any concerns whatsoever about your blood sugar levels, do what your doctor would want you to do and ignore me!
For the rest of us who might use our fear of low blood sugar to justify eating when we aren’t quite at a 0, though, maybe there is something here that can encourage you or offer you strategies for success. In any event, I survived the experience!
For me, the Crash and Burn only happens when I feed The Perfect Zero with something very high in simple sugars…like fruit, for instance, or…as this case demonstrates, pancakes and syrup!
The Crash and Burn incident in the below sound byte happened to me last week. I decided to experiment a bit. In the following sound byte, I describe what happened, how it happened, and what I decided to do about it. (Forgive the echoing piece in the middle of the byte. I was using new software and didn’t know I had a setting messed up!)
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
Psalm 145:15-19
How about you? Do you fear the Crash and Burn? Do you have medical reasons to be concerned or is it discomfort that you want to avoid? What are some strategies you can use to manage through these kinds of incidents?
NOTE: I hope you will join us for today’s webinar to talk about Justification Eating. Here are the specifics!
Please register for Justification Eating – The Lies We Tell Ourselves – Thin Within Support on Jul 5, 2013 4:00 PM PDT at:
We are learning how to renew our minds to support us on our Thin Within journeys. We want to break free from telling ourselves lies that cause us to eat outside of our God-given 0 and 5 (hunger and satisfaction) boundaries. Let’s talk about what we can do to SEE the lies and what we can to to take them captive while replacing them with TRUTH! VICTORY can be ours as we deal with this important issue.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Here is a sound file that explains what I hope ALL of us (even those not involved in the bible study) will do! (Email subscribers need to visit the blog site to access the sound file):
1.) Establish our primary and secondary boundaries.
Mine are:
Primary Boundary – Eat 0 to 5
Secondary Boundaries – 1.) Eat only when sitting down (sitting in the car doesn’t count! :-)) 2.) Eat only when my mind and body are relaxed
2.) Establish our plan for renewing our minds.
Mine looks like this and I will send a report to my accountability partner each day about these things as well:
Renew my mind with my Eating Truth Cards each morning.
Listen to my Truth Play List at least once during the day.
Review/Scan or re-read highlights in my cards between 4 and 6pm each day.
You can do this, too.
What is your primary boundary? This one’s easy–If you are a Thin Within participant, you will want to have this one be “To eat 0 to 5” or something like that.
What will your two secondary boundaries be this week?Remember that secondary boundaries support your ability to live within your primary boundary. Any of the Keys to Conscious Eating can work. “To have the TV off when eating,” or something like that can work, too!
What will your plan be to renew your mind? Remember, renewing the mind is something we are doing so we can think differently–specifically, so we can think God’s thoughts about something, in this case, 0 to 5 eating, or our bodies, or food generally…or something like that! I have made my truth cards specifically about eating 0 to 5 since that is my primary boundary. More on that in our online class. We talked about ways of renewing our minds agin the online class for this week. Here is that video:
