A 3rd Way

At the CCEF conference I ran into an old friend Barbara Aills (CCEF Board member and excellent biblical counselor. www.biblicalcounselingministries.com). We were talking about the right way to be motivated to eat or to not eat.
(So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:30-32)
She drew a line horizontally across a paper. On one end she wrote restriction. On the other end she wrote licentiousness. And then she said something shocking. The 3rd way is not even on this continuum. It is up at the top of the page (triangle) and that is God's way. It is surprising and utterly different. It is motivated by love, gratefulness, forgiveness and God's glory.
This illustration can be applied to the other areas in which one wants to overcome and please God with the only motivation that will bring about change that glorifies God.

Hurry Up

"Isn't God powerful enough to change me immediately? Yes God is and sometimes does...
but I don't think that is typical. Indeed the New Testament affirms that the most common method
for sanctification (change) is a process that has to be practiced as you struggle against sin."
Love to Eat Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick

I have been struggling against overeating for 30 years. But that does not mean I have been struggling against sin using His methods. I usually (almost always) use my own methods.
His methods are utterly different than getting motivated by restriction.

uummm, yeah

I did it again.
I worshiped at the altar of "Health and Beauty".
One month ago I adopted a rigid, way healthy, diet.
No caffeine, no soda, no coffee, green tea daily, and
every super food you can think of:
almonds
walnuts
oatmeal
soy milk
flax seed
salmon
asparagus
spinach
olive oil
pomegranites
brown, whole grain rice
quinoa
egg whites
etc...
What is wrong with this?
I think what is wrong for me in this is that I doubt the power of Christ in my sanctification to change me and help me to eat for Him. I "use" the thrill of reinventing myself and being perfectly healthy to motivate me. It works immediately and fantastically...but it is not lasting.

“Grasping the external propulsion of God’s grace is crucial to our understanding of mission. It means that mission is not a duty (something we ’should do’) but a natural overflow of the gospel’s work inside us. If you aren’t motivated to love, serve, and speak the gospel to people, the answer isn’t to ‘just do it.’ The answer is to examine your heart, repent of sin, and discern where your unbelief is short-circuiting the natural outward movement of the gospel. As the gospel renews your heart, it will also renew your desire to move out in faith into the relationships and opportunities God places in your path.

To put it simply, the grace of God is always going somewhere—moving forward, extending his kingdom, propelling his people toward love and service to others. As we learn to live in light of the gospel, mission should be the natural overflow. God’s grace brings renewal internally (in us) so that it might bring renewal externally (through us).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 46.

Skinny Bitch

As I have confessed in earlier blogs, I am susceptible to getting on health kicks, feeling GREAT and then burning out. Well, at the risk of repeating this scenario I have embarked on yet another "health kick". I mean how can I say no to an urge to eat oatmeal, flax seed, pomegranates, and salmon, to just name a few of the many super foods I have been eating daily. I can't resist the super feeling of getting all those antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals .
It started innocently enough. I was in an airport on one of my many trips I have been taking lately and saw the book "Skinny Bitch". I was curious and bought it. It really inspired me to, first of all quit the junk, like coffee, soda, refined flour/sugar and wine. One line in the book was particularly inspiring, something about taking healthy habits one day at a time, the hardest part will be the first 30 days and then it'll get easier since I'll feel so much better.
In the mean time I am 2 weeks off caffeine, coffee, soda and junk and one week off wine.
I feel really SUPER.