Faith and Fat
Obesity (Part 2 of 5)
John Reed and Gerry White

Eli fell backward off his chair. He fell beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, because he was old and fat.

1 Samuel 4:18 (NCV)

And it is confirmed by the experience of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers... Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

Job 15:18-29 (NLT)

What does God have to say about obesity?

Drunkards and gluttons will be reduced to poverty. If all you do is eat and sleep, you will soon be wearing rags.

Proverbs 23:21 (TEV)

There is a recipe for gaining weight and being diseased, just as there is a recipe for losing weight and being free of disease. You can choose to follow whichever recipe you want, and you will get exactly the results of the recipe you follow.

If you want to gain weight:

  1. slow your metabolism (stop all forms of exercise)
  2. drink lots of carbonated soft drinks
  3. choose high caloric density foods like processed foods with ingredients such as white flour, oils, and saturated fats
  4. load up on junk foods such as potato chips, and fried foods
  5. visit fast food restaurants frequently
  6. eat often and before you go to bed

Some people need to gain weight to be healthy
Some people need to loose weight to be healthy

Definition of Gluttony is: an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Overeater and the addict have quite a bit in common

  1. Both use a substance to alter mood and medicate emotional pain.
  2. Both develop a high tolerance, requiring more and more of the substance, in a futile attempt to experience previously attained or imagined levels of temporary comfort and relief.
  3. Both eventually experience despair rather than relief or comfort from the substance of choice.
  4. Both continue destructive behavior in the midst of adverse consequences.
  5. Both experience withdrawal, craving relief throughout attempts to go without the substance of choice.
  6. Both will die early if there is not a change in behavior.
  7. Both have family members and friends who either perpetuate the problem, enable the problem or sabotage attempts to change.

Remarkably most overeaters have similar behaviors, reactions and emotional states which mirror drug or alcoholic addicts. They read books, and implement plans to alter the way they consume their substance of choice in an effort to fix the problem.

Can you imagine suggesting to an alcoholic a book on addiction that went to great lengths to tell an alcoholic how to drink differently?

Who would recommend to an alcoholic a book that gives recipes of mixed drinks that contained less alcohol or a list of preferred low alcohol beers and wines?

Don't spend all of your time thinking about eating or drinking or worrying about life.

Luke 21:34 (CEV)

There are three things you need to do if you want to overcome your dependencies on destructive amounts of a substance. Unless you break through your desire to isolate, practice connecting, and go home and connect with others who have the same problem, connection is the key to a lifetime of freedom from obesity.

Three barriers to overcome:

1. Maintaining isolation for fear of rejection.

Your shame in your appearance and not being able to succeed produces feelings of intense inferiority.

God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)

The benefits of invisibility - you are not looked at or addressed so you can fade into the background with no risk of getting hurt or being known.

2. A stubborn resistance to do anything but what you have already done.

You have a reluctant agreement that you resist giving up on your old ways, refusing to work through your old problems and stay away from quick fixes that never fix.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:15 (NIV)

The antidote is a humble willingness. You must humble yourself by coming off the pedestal of weight loss expert and into the role of willing learner and courageous explorer of new things in uncharted territory.

You must be willing to listen, willing to work on new areas, and willing to connect.

3. Give up your fluctuating levels of effort to help and cure yourself.

You've worked hard at:

  • Severe diets
  • Extreme exercise
  • Trying to redeem yourself with greater efforts to win God’s favor and earn His forgiveness

You must believe that while you can't save yourself, God can if you will let Him even without trying to earn His favor.

You need to surrender your life and will to God, seeking His presence, power, and wisdom every day.

I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

Philipians 4:13 (TEV)

You will not be able to do this unless you change your perception of God. Unless you believe in a God who loves you rather than an angry and vindictive God, there is little chance for surrender.

The concept of grace must be accepted deep within. You must see that you have been given unmerited favor that needs no work to earn. It is understanding grace that leads you to finally give up and surrender.

Once you surrender, you can go on to work on the deeper issues of inner longings, deep-seeded appetites and their empty souls.

Here's the Point: The problem is physical, the cause is emotional, but the cure is spiritual.

When you eat more and spoil your health, you show you lack self control.

for your hearts are too fat and your ears don't listen and you have closed your eyes against understanding, for you don't want to see and hear and understand and turn to me to heal you.

Acts 28:27 (Living)

If you take responsibility for your health and look at the effects of the actions you are taking, you can determine what outcome you wish to experience.

If you only work on the physical aspects of the problem it will only add to your frustration and despair. Unresolved spiritual issues of the heart will keep you locked into your old patterns and dependencies.

Does overweight have to be synonymous with being unhealthy or can you be fit and healthy at any weight?

Your weight does affect your health!

  • Your liver function will begin to improve quite rapidly;
  • The hardening of your arteries that was taking place as your pursued your weight gain diet will begin to reverse;
  • Your cardiovascular health will improve dramatically;
  • Your brain function will even improve.
  • Your pulse will slow, and your body fat will slowly begin to melt off.
  • You'll find it easier to sleep at night and get up in the morning.
  • You won't get sick as often, and you'll find that your immune system begins to function the way it's supposed to in a healthy human being.

Don't be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you.

1 Peter 4:12 (Living)

Life is a series of problems. Every time you solve one, another is waiting to take its place.

Even if your heavy and healthy, you're in danger of wearing the cartilage out in your legs when you are older.

You were created to become like Christ

1. God uses problems to draw me closer to him.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

You're most profound and intimate experiences will likely be your darkest days.

When your heart is broken,
When you feel abandoned,
When you're out of options,
When the pain is great, God is sufficient!

God could have:

  • kept Joseph out of jail,
  • kept Daniel out of the lion's den,
  • kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit,
  • kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times, and
  • kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace - but He didn't.

God let problems happen, and everyone one of these persons were drawn closer to God as a result.

2. Problems force me to look to God and depend on him instead of myself.

We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us.

2 Corinthians 1:9 (Living)

You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got.

Regardless of the cause, none of your problems could happen without God's permission. Because God is sovereignly in control, accidents are just incidents in God's good plan for you. Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance.

Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle.

The hardest thing you'll face is problems which magnify your weaknesses. It can't be someone else's image but your image of you that you have to strive for.

I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

Philipians 3:13 (NLT)

We know that these troubles produce patience. [4] And patience produces character, and character produces hope

Romans 5:3-4 (NCV)

What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever.

Under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

James 1:3 (Msg)

When you've been refined by trials, people can see Jesus' reflection in you. Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through.

We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

Romans 8:17 (Msg)

3. Submit myself to God that His plan is best for me.

Your problems don't automatically produce what God intends. Many people choose isolation and start a life of stubborn resistance. Remember that you have to respond the way Jesus would to grow up.

4. God has my best interests at heart.

Hezekiah said this about his life-threatening illness:

It was for my own good that I had such troubles.

Isaiah 38:17 (NCV)

If we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.

Romans 8:17-18 (NLT)

Commitment

  1. I commit to stop my dependency on destructive amounts of substance. I will stop consuming more food than I need.
  2. I commit to break through my desire to isolate myself
  3. I commit to practice connecting with others
  4. I commit to connect with others who have the same problem as I have
  5. I commit to find a spiritual accountability partner to check-up on me weekly
  6. I commit to loose weight to be healthy