When you try to live independently of Me, you experience emptiness and dissatisfaction. You may gain the whole world and yet lose everything that really counts. Jesus Calling, September 16
Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to make healthy living a habit? Armed with our greatest determination and countless diets and training plans, it should be easy, but many of us find that it is not. Somewhere between setting our goals and facing reality, we trade healthy habits for quick-fix gimmicks and temporary results.
Healthy living is more than a look
Like finances, marriage, and other subjects studied through the Word in our churches, a healthy approach to life can be attained when our focus is on God. We cannot get healthy, remain balanced, and maintain the results on our strength alone because being “healthy” is so much more than a look we are trying to obtain. It is a lifestyle we are trying to maintain.
Seeking God in our health, fitness, and wholeness is how we redefine ourselves as fearfully and wonderfully made people of God. And when we do this, we stop judging ourselves according to the numbers we see on the scale and how we look in the mirror. You and I are so much more than our bodies. With Jesus as the centerpiece, we can find the freedom to be who He made us to be apart from worldly ideals.
Feeding our spirit
When we walk with God, we feed our spirit. But when we walk in the flesh, our spirit is malnourished and weak. The flesh continually makes the same disappointing decisions and leaves us feeling powerless. It is driven by emotions. And like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum in the toy store, our flesh wants whatever it wants now.
The good news is that we can overcome the tantrums of our flesh when we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. We can practice self-control and make peace with our bodies by seeing ourselves through God’s eyes.
5 Ways to live happy, healthy & whole in Him
1. Seek God first.
It may seem like a new concept to seek God in your fitness and wholeness, but He wants to do every part of your life with you. Seeking Him for wisdom in food choices, relying on His strength to exercise your body, and the grace to see yourself through His lens will enable you to get free from the world’s way of health and help you live a Spirit-led lifestyle.
2. Surrender
Surrender the whole fitness and body image struggle to God. Within each season of life, we can find grace when we lay down expectations and pressure to be free in who He has created us to be.
3. Show up
Show up in the Holy Spirit daily to be the godly person you really want to be. The gifts of the Spirit enable us to live with peace, walk-in self-control, and find joy regardless of our circumstances. With our full reliance on God, we can choose to be empowered in His strength versus exhausted in ours.
4. Get back to basics
Rather than feel confined to the overwhelm of a diet or specified workout, choose to do the best each day in the 5 W’s: Worship, Word, Whole God-made foods, Water, Workout. As we focus on what God made for our bodies to eat and drink, along with spending plenty of time with Him, we can simplify our confusion toward gaining a healthier life and finding results.
5. Answer the call
Answer the call He placed on your heart. Nothing will fill your cup like walking in your purpose. Whether it’s a mission trip, volunteering at church, or singing in the choir, God has work for you to do. He only made one of you, and He doesn’t make mistakes. When you get busy using your life to bring Him glory, you’ll quickly find yourself happier, healthier, and whole.
With our hearts and minds set on Christ, everything else falls into place. We need Him—daily!—to take care of ourselves from the inside and out, and to direct our steps, so we can live our best lives for Him.
