Body Stewardship

Stewardship: "Stewardship defines our practical obedience in the administration of everything under our control, everything entrusted to us. It is the consecration of one’s self and possessions to God’s service. Stewardship acknowledges in practice that we do not have the right of control over ourselves or our property—God has that control. It means as stewards of God we are managers of that which belongs to God, and we are under His constant authority as we administer His affairs. Faithful stewardship means that we fully acknowledge we are not our own but belong to Christ, the Lord, who gave Himself for us." (GotQuestions.org)

Before I was saved my day looked like this: Wake up, go to school, eat pop tarts for breakfast, eat whatever for lunch that my mom packed (typically a sandwich, Lunchables, or something else simple) grab McDonald's, and head off to work after school, eat 6 full sized donuts on break, and when I got home at 10 pm eat a giant dinner and then immediately go to sleep. I would wake up every morning stuffed, bloated, and not hungry but still eating. I repeated this pattern to some degree, for about 7 years. I remember when I worked at my first office job I was constantly eating chips, and candy, ordering take-out for lunch, and drinking energy drinks, and coffee all day long. It was fun, it was part of my social life, and I loved it. I don't even think I had a favorite food, I liked everything. Sweets, salty snacks, pasta, anything I could get in my mouth I ate it. My husband and I would go out to eat for dinner, ice cream, and we made this a normal occurrence. In 2016 I decided I had enough and began running, eating a cleaner diet, and focusing on losing weight. I lost 60 pounds in 6 months and was super proud of myself. I got married a year later and gained 30 pounds back. I tried keto and lost 15 pounds, got pregnant, and gained it all back plus some. I had a baby the following year in 2019, and the day I gave birth weighed 310 pounds. After I was cleared by my doctor I began extreme exercise like HIIT and cardio sometimes for 2 hours a day. I got nowhere. My diet was a little better but I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. I then went on to do Weight Watchers losing 30 pounds but stuck in a restrictive and unhealthy mindset revolving around food, after that quit working I gave up. I had been yo-yo dieting for about 5 years until finally, something changed. I got saved! I understood the gospel of Jesus Christ and trusted in Him as my personal Lord and Savior. At that time I didn’t think much of my weight, I was just kind of eating whatever I wanted and working out very little. I started reading the Bible, focusing on the book of Ephesians, Colossians, and Galatians. These books help you to know who you are to be as a Christ follower and how to live your life to the fullest extent for Him. I still claim these books as my favorite! I was doing well as a new believer, I stopped cursing completely, purposefully lusting over other men, and all of the other sins that I was aware of at the time that the Lord was showing me. There was ONE sin in particular that I did not even know I was committing and I definitely did not understand how big of an impact it had on my life. I had a binge eating problem. Gluttony is habitual greed or excess in eating. This is a sin we often in the church ignore and pretend God doesn’t care about it. All of these years of yo-yo dieting and trying to fix a problem for vain and selfish reasons left me feeling empty, bitter, and unsuccessful. There was a much larger problem deeper than the surface level that I needed to deal with that food could never fix, losing weight could never fix, and I could have never fixed it on my own. When we turn to food instead of turning to God we are telling God that we would much rather have what we want than what He wants for us. We oftentimes forget that God knows us better than we know ourselves. We forget that He created us and made us in HIS image and He knows how we work! He understands that sin is destructive, sin brings death, and sin separates us from Him. When we are being led by the Spirit to let go of something because it’s a sin, meaning it's destroying not only us but most importantly our relationship with God, we need to obey and trust Him instead of doing what our flesh wants, which is to rebel and be sinful! God used a video on YouTube to call me out of the darkness of my sin when it revolves around food. I did a 21-day transformation program by a trainer and I had to give up sugar cold turkey and really lean into hunger. Focus on whole and healthy natural foods, nothing processed and fast between 7:30 pm until I woke up. I learned a lot during this time. God used this to show me that I was entirely dependent on food. I was not even using it for what it was for! I was using it to comfort me, to soothe me, and fulfill me. Except it never successfully did what I wanted it to! When I was even the slightest bit hungry I would get very angry and short with the people around me, including my child. Which by the way, is teaching her to be the same way. When I would go to sleep hungry it felt unfair and I wanted to give up only a few days in. When I got angry or upset at someone or even just a situation I would run to the pantry to bake cookies, or the freezer to eat some ice cream. I then would get even more upset because, within the 21 days, I couldn't have my fix. God showed me that this is not Christ-like at all. I was looking to satisfy my flesh and my sweet tooth. I was looking to food as my comforter, my savior, and my helper in times of need instead of running to my Father in Heaven. The one who knows what I need more than I myself know. God exposed a lot of my heart to me, and showed me the areas I needed to, and still do to this day, work on and fix. This was in 2022, so it’s been a year since I did that 21-day program. I actually did it twice and lost 30 pounds on it. I am happy to say that I have pretty much kept off that 30 pounds, give or take 5 pounds depending on the week. God has transformed my mind from running to worldly things to fulfill me to running to Him. You guys, food is fuel. It is what He gave us to keep us alive and stable. When we eat the right foods we can live long healthy lives for Him to run the race He set before us, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24. He gave us everything we have to steward properly, and when we don’t fulfill that to the best of our ability, we are doing Him and ourselves a dis-service. Food can never and will never be able to comfort and heal us the way God can! Food is a tool we use to live our lives and fellowship with each other. God did not give it to us so that we can use and abuse it. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.“ If we are born-again blood-bought believers, we ought to live our lives in such a way that we glorify and honor God in all that we do and say. We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to God! We do not get to live life the way we desire to live, and we certainly don’t get to treat our bodies how we want to in the flesh. I want to ask you a few questions, just to get you thinking. How did you live before Christ? How did you eat before Christ? How did you treat your body before Christ? Does your life now reflect a change, even when it comes to the area of food and drink, or do you have the same old patterns? “Therefore if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18. We see here that ALL things have become new if you are in Christ Jesus. The old things have been passed away, you don’t have to keep living that way. You don’t have to eat until you are sick. You don’t have to stuff yourself full of food to be satisfied and filled. You can be hungry and be okay! Listen to what Paul said about being hungry in Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Paul understood that even when he was hungry, even when he was in prison, even when he is in need, Christ would strengthen him. The same is for you, my friend! “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Matthew 6:25. There is way more to life than food! Our lives should not revolve around it. Our mood should not revolve around it. Something God showed me is that my poor attitude when I am hungry is not a good reflection of Him at all. I am to be content, and joyful even in the times I hunger or thirst. My next meal is coming at some point, getting angry and upset about not having my belly full immediately is ridiculous and not Christ-like. I hate how comical everyone thinks it is that when we women get hungry we turn into the Hulk. If we think about it spiritually, it’s quite foolish and it certainly is not godly. God calls us to be meek and gentle, not angry and foolish. Something I have been working on is practicing contentment and being okay in every circumstance I am put into. Knowing that my countenance needs to reflect Christ, not my flesh. Denying my flesh and saying that God is more important and He knows best is something I need to say over and over again on repeat. I want to encourage you today, brother or sister, to get out of the mindset that food rules your life, not associate with that old man. God called you OUT of that old dirty dead flesh, called you out of the grave, and gave you NEW life. Today, are you going to choose to continue living to please and ultimately destroy your flesh, or live to please and honor God, the One who will break those chains? It's hard friend. It’s hard to go from leaning on food your whole life to then leaning on God. You will be on your knees crying, a lot. You just will! But I am telling you, it's so worth it. There is most likely a reason, a root that runs deep as to why you overeat and feel so attached to food and only God can reveal and then heal you from that. But you have to let Him! You have to say “Lord, this body you gave to me to steward and take care of, I have not been doing it the way you would have me to do. Lord, give me wisdom and guidance on how to best steward my body. I don't wanna eat this way anymore, I don't wanna be stuck in the hamster wheel of yo-yo dieting and I certainly do not want to end up just being another statistic. Lord, please break these chains of bondage I am in when it comes to food. Food is not my God, You are. Food is not my comforter, You are. And I want to better reflect that in my life. Please reveal to me the areas in my life I need to fix and please heal these deep wounds that cause me to overeat. Please uproot these scars and the trauma that keeps me running to food as a coping mechanism. I want You, and You alone Lord Jesus. It’s in your name I pray, AMEN!”

You can’t stop there, you have to put that prayer into action, you must do your part. Every morning you wake up you have to choose to put on the new man, as the Bible says, and choose to walk in God’s light. Walk in your new God-given life and purpose! Pickup that cross and follow Him! Jesus says once you are forgiven you are FREE!! Choose to be free today, free from the bondage of food and unhealthy living.