Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Is Your Belly Your God?


If we love the Lord Jesus and are filled with His Spirit, God will be our God.  We won't have idols in our life. Many today have made their bellies their god. "Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things" {Philippians 3:19}. This verse describes many in our culture. They eat way more than they need, eat way more of stuff they shouldn't, and have no self-control in this area. Are you this way? Have you made your belly your god?

Our culture spends billions on weight loss programs and food. Fast food and microwave food is commonly eaten since many women don't have time to cook nourishing meals. Soda, which has many teaspoons of sugar in one can, is guzzled down like water.  Many care more about satisfying their taste buds and fleshly lusts than they care for their health. Children are getting all of the diseases adults have and are becoming more and more obese and unhealthy.

"Christians ought to watch what they eat. I do not refer here only to overeating, which is a bad thing, but to eating the wrong things. Too many sweets, too many rich things, too much junk. Take a walk through any supermarket and note the space given to soft drinks, candy, packaged snack foods, dry cereals. We could do very well without any of these. Try it for a week. You may be surprised at how dependent you are on them. You might even discover that you are an addict." {Elisabeth Elliot}

Is your god your belly? Do you allow it to boss you around or are you in control of what goes into your mouth? Do you have self-control in all areas of your life? If you are a believer, you have the Spirit of the Living God inside of you and one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. 

"We are not to let our appetites control us, but we are to have control over our appetites. (See Deuteronomy 21:20, Proverbs 23:2, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, and 2 Corinthians 10:5.) The ability to say “no” to anything in excess—self-control—is one of the fruits of the Spirit common to all believers (Galatians 5:22)."{gotquestions.org}

God commands that we be moderate in everything! "And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things" {1 Corinthians 9:25}. Temperate means moderate. We discipline our body for the purpose of godliness. We are temperate in how much we eat, how much money we spend, how many clothes we own, the time spent watching TV, time on the computer, how much we sleep, and even how much we work. 

This means we need to learn self-control in all areas of our lives! "But I can't do this. My body and desires control me!" As long as you say this to yourself, you won't be able to change, for how a man thinketh in his heart, so is he {Proverbs 23:7}. Your thoughts and words have a lot of power. Renew your mind with what God says instead. You can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you. You are dead and freed from sin. The power of the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Look up all the verses you need to memorize and change your lies to these truths and then step into the freedom that the Lord died to give you. Accountability is also a great tool. The family of God should be exhorting, rebuking, and encouraging each other in every area of our lives.

Comments (26)

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Thanks for this, Lori! Something I needed to read today.
1 reply · active 459 weeks ago
YES! It's a vicious cycle... We eat sugar.... Disease-causing yeast in out gut feeds on sugar.... It grows... It craves MORE sugar - It DEMANDS it.... It sends signals to the brain.... We crave sugar.... We eat sugar.... The disease causing yeast feeds on sugar.... Round and round it goes.... These cravings are NOT always mental, and that is one reason why decreasing sugar intake is NOT always easy. Yes, our guts health can get out of balance just by eating processed foods and sugars, but stress, illness and injury can also have an effect on gut health. Your gut talks to your brain and is considered your "second" brain because it houses 70-80% of your immune system and controls aprox. 95% of your Seratonin levels -- the chemicals that control your emotions. Emotional eating is one of the primary causes of weight gain today.
1 reply · active 459 weeks ago
This has been a struggle for me since I was a child. I need to lose at least 100 pounds and my husband gave me 3 months to lose something. I have not lost anything and hate that I have no self control. It is so interesting when I found out I was pregnant I was able to stop drinking alcohol and smoking. Thank you for your posts and telling the truth about this and not saying it is a disease or addiction. It is my flesh and sin that keeps me overweight.
Stephanie
2 replies · active 459 weeks ago
Could you please tell me what Elizabeth Elliot book the quote is from? Thanks
3 replies · active 459 weeks ago
There is a lot of talk about self-love and being body positive out there today. while loving yourself and your body that you received is VERY important... self-love does not say that you are healthy when you are not. being body positive also doesn't ignore the weight problems when they slowly creep up on you. taking care of your body means you feed it right while still able to enjoy treats, work out (you don't have to be a marathoner or a body builder to be fit), and tell yourself- this is the body i received, i'm going to take care of it no matter what. i see too many Christians though who in the effort to be not in the world, stop taking care of themselves. no God doesn't care what your physical body looks like; but He does about your health.
1 reply · active 459 weeks ago
Lori

This is a great post, and an area I am still working on, cutting down on the stuff that isn't so good for me!.
thank you and blessings to you as ever
Helen UK
1 reply · active 459 weeks ago
I have had the opposite problem. I was following a healthy diet & didn't realize I was being so strict with it. It actually has a name...orthorexia. It caused me several health problems. I fell & broke my hip. This resulted in a hip replacement because my bones were soft from the strict diet. I have lightened up on being so strict & have gained 10 pounds. I tried to follow everything 100% which got me in trouble. So I guess everything in moderation.
2 replies · active 459 weeks ago
Thank-you, Lori. This was so helpful! I am just starting a healthy eating and exercise plan, but struggled with the "why". I don't want to exercise/eat healthy just to look "good", which is so often the motive of the world. So, I asked the Lord for a proper motive, and this post has helped me with that. My accountability partner also reminded me that this type of struggle is spiritual. "Whatever you do work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord...." Colossians 3:23
This is a great post, thank you. This is something I've struggled with pretty much my whole life. What I've realizedis not only am I controlled by food I also don't find any joy in my food, I have the tendency to eat so fast I can't even taste it. And while we must eat good, I do believe that God gave us food to enjoy it. To savor it, and be so thankful to the giver. As long as you say this to yourself, you won't be able to change, for how a man thinketh in his heart, so is he {Proverbs 23:7}

As I read this I realized that this is where my problem begins. I have believed that I just can't have self control, no matter how hard I try. But as long as I think that I never will. Through Christ I have the gift of self control, from him and not through me, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Thank you I'm going to really meditate on these verses, and spend some serious time in prayer.
For many who are on certain medications, the weight just comes with the territory. For others, there are issues from childhood which have had an emotional impact and have not been dealt with. For others, and many. A lack of sleep is part of the problem.
A lack of sleep robs us of certain hormones which, when they are in balance, tell us when we are full, and remove from us the desire for rich foods. Not everyone comes under the same blanket.
1 reply · active 458 weeks ago
Lori, I have a question...if you cut out the sugar from your diet (which I think I should!) do you also not use any honey then? Is it considered harmful or is there actually still good in using it? Wondering because cutting out sugar is a really tough one for me; I've tried it before and it didn't last. Would love to try again. Thanks.
2 replies · active 458 weeks ago

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