I think it was
March of 2016 when I started my weight-loss journey. When I began I weighed 350
lbs. Just saying it now is embarrassing. It’s even more embarrassing as I look
back at pictures from that era. On April, 20 I weighed 236.2 lbs. To keep you
from doing the Math, that’s -113.8 lbs. While that is a great accomplishment,
it is one that should have never been needed. I am proud to say that I have
succeeded in my weight-loss journey without any weight-loss supplements or
surgeries. However, I have not accomplished this without help. It has been a
work of grace. In typical grace fashion, it required repentance and a change of
behavior. But grace always comes with empowerment from the Spirit.
The approach I
shall take in this blog is two-fold: Firstly, I shall share my personal
testimony, and secondly I shall share a theology of health. I will be as
discreet as I can on the personal testimony portion and still make my point.
And I shall be a humble as I can on the theology side portion and still make my
point.
Personal Testimony
I have battled
with my weight my entire adulthood. I have rarely been fit. It has always been
a matter of how out of shape I was. And for much of my life I have I was obese
to the point of embarrassment. However, I was never able to reach the place in
my mind and will to where I could make long term choice for health.
I
was very sensitive about it even though I always laughed it off. If people
joked about my weight I would externally laugh with them, but it made me feel
horrible inside. It led to depression and extreme insecurity. And no amount of
shaming me resulted in me losing weight. This makes for the perfect opportunity
to say if you have a loved one that is overweight do not try to shame them into
losing weight. It will not work. It makes them feel worse and they will eat
more as a coping mechanism. For me I would be depressed about my weight and
appearance and so I would eat to drown the depression. You can see how this
becomes a vicious cycle.
For
anyone to decide to lose weight they have to find something in life that means
more to them than their appetite. Sadly, in many cases this is a life crisis.
For me it was divorce. Becoming coming physically healthy was one of the ways
that I responded to tragedy of losing a 19 year marriage. I will talk about
systemic health later. My point is this: you can’t make up anyone’s mind for
them. They will have to come to that conclusion themselves—however that is.
For
me it was shortly after deciding to get emotionally healthy from my divorce
that I decided to get physically healthy. I shall suggest that in most cases
emotional/spiritual health and physical health go hand-in-hand. Obesity is
almost always a reflection of a mental or spiritual dysfunction. I willingly
confess that this was the case for me. I needed healing a grace that could only
come from my Father. I shall explore this idea further in the Theology of
Health section.
The Theology of
Health
And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians
5:23 KJV)
My journey to
systemic health began with emotional health. It then flowed out into physical
health and continued into my spiritual heath. Every part of man (spirit, soul
and body) is connected. The goal is systemic health. I will not be able to
discuss this fully here, but I will give you the big picture.
It
is important to note that the God of peace must sanctify in order to realize systemic
wholeness. Why the God of peace. Paul is drawing from the Hebrew idea of
shalom. And shalom (peace) is not just absence of conflict, but rather
wholeness or to be set at one again. The God of wholeness wants to make us
whole. The way that happens is to create in us health I spirit, soul and body. This
is peace. And we lose peace when we lose health and any one of these three
areas. It is our responsibility as spirit filled believers to allow the God of
peace to sanctify us wholly—including our bodies. I will do a Facebook live video
about this later. But as Christians we do not glorify God when we do not allow
the Holy Spirit to produce physical health in us. Yes God is concerned about
your body. After all it is his temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). I am writing this
to encourage my fellow Christians to take care of your bodies for the glory of
God.
