Previously I said, "The bottomline is that living life in a healthy manner--physically, emotionally, spiritually--begins with me. It's about my choices, my attitude, my actions."
God whispered this into my spirit. He does that, usually to teach me something new in His Word or to remind me of a past lesson.
Lest you think I'm a total egomaniac, I went on a Scripture search this weekend. That's the next step following a God whisper. I knew there was a passage that speaks to this.
I found it in 2 Pet 1.
From the New Living Translation:
A couple of things stand out for me:
1 This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- God has given us everything we need for living a godly life
There it is! We're guilty of thinking if we just had this or if we only knew this or if we could only achieve that... But we already have EVERYTHING we need. For certain, there are conveniences--more and more everyday--that make a particular task easier or faster but those are wants, not needs.
We have what we need.
Of course, having everything is not quite the same as knowing everything, as I said previously. But "having" speaks to inner capacity, the capacity or capability for everything. - These are the promises that enable you to...escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
Wow! Stop right there. A promise! To escape the negative results of our desires. Like eating too much or the wrong kinds of foods? Like watching TV or sleeping when I might be exercising? In my case, the desires that corrupt my health. - "...make every effort to respond..."
This brings me back to "It starts with me." God made the promise. Now I have to do my part. If I make every effort to lose weight, part of living a godly life because it means I'm taking the best care I can of the body God has given me, then I should have success.
As I've said, I've had short periods of success over the years but I can't honestly say I've made a determined effort, every day, year in and year out, to take the best possible care of my body. Can you? - "...Supplement your faith ... with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control..."
Self-control here means doing the things we know we should do and not doing the things that we know we shouldn't. Like eating that 400 calorie chocolate bar Saturday evening I brought home from the pharmacy and hid from my husband. (Note: He occasionally reads my blogs but he already knows about my bad habits.)
Controlling self. I get that. I really do. It's just soooooo HARD! Don't you agree? - But then the Word continues with "The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be..."
Not one verse suggests anything about this being easy. Things were pretty easy in the Garden of Eden. Look how that turned out.
For me, it's not that way. Time to accept that.
But if I stay focused and do what I need to do, because I have everything already in me, and if I supplement my faith with knowledge and my knowledge with self-control, then I should see results. And as I continue to do this, I'll get better at it.
So will you.
Read that as SUCCESS.
What's the biggest issue for you? Is it self-control? Is it knowledge? Is it faith, i.e. trusting in God's promises? Have you made every effort?
Peace & Blessings,
Patricia
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2 comments:
This is what I meant in my comment the other day. The big majority of us who have weight issues already KNOW what we need to do. We just don't DO it. WHY???? It's a matter of the will -- saying no that that which is destructive and choosing life. When we're facing an issue of sin like adultery, stealing, lying, etc., the decision is easy. When it's the choice between dry meat or meat with gravy or between a cookie and an apple it doesn't seem so dire -- at the moment.
Chicki,
I don't know if it's as much a matter of will as we've always believed. It's definitely a matter of making good choices, which requires discipline--something I lack in this area--but I think it's also a matter of really valuing ourselves.
I'll talk about that in another post. :)
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