MOTIVE

James 4

Submit Yourselves to God

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?^a]">[a] ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."^b]">[b]

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The 2nd word Paul Tripp gives to describe living in a Christ-centered way is motive. Changing my motive for dieting has made a huge difference! I am living more with a fear of the lord. "Fear of the Lord means that I carry around with me such a deep awareness, awe, and reverence for the power, holiness, wisdom, and grace of God that I would not think of doing anything other than living for his glory. Fearing the Lord means that this worshipful awe is the single motivator of everything I think, desire, say and do."

When I dieted for a number on the scale or for a look I was after it was so frantic and hopeless and inconsistent. Remembering God's glory daily feels smooth, consistent and infinitely hope-filled. I know I am empoered to eat for His glory by his strength. No doubt.

I also know that if gain weight it is not the end of the world. I am in Christ. He is in me. He will keep me where He wants me.