If it is a bad thing to lose a game or lose my keys, why is it a good thing to lose weight? As if we are just misplacing it and will find it again someday and put it back in its rightful place. Ok. Maybe some of us will do just that. I propose that we find a different word to signify pounds dropping off of us. A friend once referred to it as “releasing” weight. I like that one better. That implies that I’m letting it go and I never want to see it again. Even better, I would like to think of it as banishing pounds from my body—they aren’t allowed to come back!
When we shed pounds, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We gain self-respect, discipline, a sense of accomplishment, and most important, an attitude of obedience. When we have an attitude of obedience, we desire to please God in all that we do, including what we do to our bodies.
Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” (New Living Translation) Do you have the desire to obey him? God is all about enjoying food—there are many places in the Bible that refer to it, and he gave it to us to enjoy. But there are also places that refer to the sins of gluttony and worrying about food.
I need to make a fresh start and get things in perspective. It’s not that I need to be some super model size or a certain number on a chart. But I do need to find God’s best for me.
What do you have to gain by releasing some pounds?
Copyright © Michelle Rayburn 2005 (updated 2010)
