Renew the Mind with Truth

This week, we are going to take some time to go back through the material that we have been studying and review or highlight the points that we may want to be sure we grasp a hold of! Even if you haven’t been doing the study, I think you will find this material encouraging, challenging, and life changing. You could always decide to DO the study! Each one of the “days” can stand alone, truly. Give it a try. See what you think! 🙂

Careless Eating – Barb made a GREAT observation about how an alcoholic has a very stringent boundary: not one drop of alcohol–ever. So often we think that we can’t possibly be as careful as the alcoholic because we know we need to eat. We think “If only we didn’t have to eat to survive, we could break free! Just like the alcoholic!” The truth is, we can have our primary boundary be just like what the alcoholic does. We can determine that not one bite…no, not one, ever, outside of our primary boundary of 0 and 5. I loved Barb’s direct approach when she asked: Do you think you’re the type of person who can eat what you want when you want without having it mess up your life? There are some great verses to review, too, to help us nip careless eating in the bud. We do NOT need to break our boundaries by being careless!

Justification Eating – Barb nailed us to the wall once again by pointing out that so very often we don’t come right out and just say “I am going to break my boundaries now.” Instead, we try to make it seem like we aren’t really breaking our boundaries. So, we justify. This seems to accompany almost all the eating that I personally do outside of 0 and 5. Does it for you? Barb points out that there are a number of lies we tell ourselves to justify eating outside of our boundaries. You might want to pop on over to the page and see if any of those still fit for you (again, just gloss over any reference to calorie and reword the sentences to fit the non-diet approach). One of the most convicting scriptures she uses in any of her studies (for me) is Psalm 120:2 – Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, From a deceitful tongue. Ouch. SO much of my breaking of my boundaries has a root of deceit in it. Isaiah 28:15 is another one: “…for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.” OUCH!

Indulgent Eating – For me, the power was packed in a couple of Barb’s questions:

1. If you were to eat “what you want, when you want” 100% of the time, how much do you think you’d weigh?
2. If you were to eat “what you want, when you want” 100% of the time, would you happy? Why or why not?

You know…I really don’t have to go much farther than that! But if you haven’t had a chance to do this study yet, do check it out. THe scriptures are well worth it!

Another question she asked is: How often will you follow your boundaries if you only follow them on the days you feel like following them? (Be honest.)

Well, that is a question that would be really helpful to answer. The answer for me is a big fat…NEVER!!!

So, what is the conclusion of the matter for us? If we wait until we FEEL like living according to 0 and 5, well…how long will we end up waiting?

Which of these is most challenging for you: Careless Eating, Justification Eating, or Indulgent Eating? When and where are you most likely to struggle with the one that is the hardest for you? What plan of action can you have so that you will be able to resist the next time?