“Mr. Norris, what is the secret to your success?”
“There are two distinct paths we can follow in life—a positive path or a negative one. On the positive path you don’t wait for things to happen; you make them happen by setting goals and working hard to achieve them, no matter how long it takes. On the negative path you feel like you can never accomplish anything, and that nothing good will ever come your way. If you say to yourself, “I can’t do this or that,” can’t becomes the operative word in your mind and results in a self-fulfilling failure. The person who says, “I can,” has already started on the path toward success.” – Chuck Norris
When I began my journey to live a healthy lifestyle, I never imagined I would lose 140 pounds. First, I am a compulsive eater, therefore I learned early on that abstaining from overeating required intense mental focus—not something one is too keen on maintaining for the rest of one’s life. I made my friends and family members crazy as I audibly dissected everything that went into my mouth before I ate it. Was there any processed sugar added? How many calories? How many miles would I have to walk to burn off the calories? Worse, as I learned what was actually in the foods I consumed, I would get angry and rant and rave about the deception by greedy corporations who made food that kept us eating long after we were full. They stuffed them full of chemicals we can’t pronounce—things like aspartame and sulfides—that cover the cardboard texture with flavor that stimulates our salivary glands.
I remember the time I was “digressing” to my sister on the phone and discerned by her uncanny silence that she was annoyed with me.
I said, “Are you still there?”
She said, “Yes.”
I sheepishly said, “Do you think I’m neurotic when I talk about food and my diet?”
She said, “A little, yes.”
I said, “I don’t know how to stop being addicted to food and eating too much. If I don’t obsess about diet and exercise, I’m afraid I won’t lose the weight.”
She said, “I totally get it. But I need to go.”
Nobody in their right mind wants to listen to a food-obsessed psycho talk about Pepsi or Nabisco and their evil schemes to hook consumers via “mouth feel”.
In case you were wondering, my sister is a saint. She never complained until I gave her the freedom to be honest.
I have changed many of the things I eat, but I still struggle with my eating habits. For instance, I ate too much coleslaw for lunch today. I was full halfway through but I kept eating because I didn’t want to explain to my friend why I couldn’t eat it all. Sometimes I’m like a turkey whose “gobble” got stuck.
The “I’m only human” argument
A friend recently asked for my advice on the healthiest detox diet. I told her, “Eliminate sugar and processed foods, eat lots of vegetables and fruit, and a little protein for a week. Your liver and kidneys will do the rest.” The next thing I knew, however, she was talking about her new apple cider vinegar regimen.
We all want the “easy button” when it comes to diet. She suffered through that nasty concoction for a while but as soon as a birthday hit, she was “off the rails” again. After all, we are only “human”. Put barbecue and chocolate in front of us and we all cave to our passions. As long as we don’t grow morbidly obese practicing this type of sensuality, no harm no foul, right?
Jim Elliott once wrote, “He who makes Ease his god, Sufficiency his altar, Pleasure his priest, and Time his offering, knows not what man is born for.” Jim Elliot was a singular human being, something even his daughter Valerie has had to reckon with. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/legacy-jim-elisabeth-elliot/
Before I began this journey to learn discipline, I was one of the busiest-lazy people I know. I certainly didn’t perceive myself that way, but looking back it is obvious. I refused to do the real work necessary to fully live the way God intended me to. By that, I mean that I lived fully for myself. I ate what I wanted, consumed movies and television that appealed to my fantasies, and was a slave to envy, gossip, and slander. Sure, I talked a good game at church on Sunday mornings, and I was good at confessing all my misdeeds at the ninth hour (right before communion), but I wasn’t actually interested in living differently. I embraced the “human” factor. I often wonder how I would have responded had someone asked me what I frequently ask others, “What is your purpose?” I probably would have given the standard “deer in the headlights” look followed by the answer I thought they most wanted to hear. We are all on a ship headed towards a destination of our choosing. The question is, which destination do we choose?
Mutiny in the ranks!
All of us have the capacity to make good choices for a short period of time, but eventually we have to face the long-term “why.” We charted our course for “lose weight/look great” until the chocolate cake or brownies flew out of the water like a giant sea monster and clobbered our resolve. Even when we stab the beast with our steely knives and escape with our dignity intact, we face mutiny by cellular malware. By that I mean even our own cells will sometimes rise up against us by refusing to release the proper hormones to allow the fluid to exit our bodies. (All my women friends know what I’m talking about.) I face this continually. I had a full hysterectomy when I was 35 years old and even snails move faster than my metabolism. So why do I persist in making healthy choices when even my own body is against me? The shine of “weight loss” wore off several years ago. The dear reader might be surprised at the truth.
I love God more than I love to eat.
Holiness Instead of Happiness
When I began to honestly pursue relationship with Jesus Christ, I realized that up until that point, I had been mainly interested in Him because He had the power to grant my wishes. In truth, He was so kind to me that He did grant a lot of wishes—about 140 pounds worth! But God is not a genie. This is why I have often struggled with trusting Him when He doesn’t give me what I want. Sometimes I fundamentally forget that His ways are not my ways.
Andrew Peterson puts this so succinctly in his song, “Just as I am”. One of the lyrics point out a central fear that “His love is no better than mine.” I’m terribly fickle. My love for friends and family fail very quickly when they disappoint me. But that is not the way Jesus loves people. He taught from the mountain that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us so that we may be sons of our Father in heaven. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 ESV).
So does He mean perfect like, keep-my-room-clean perfect or as in like actually-never-sin perfect? Because I can’t even get a handle on gluttony, how am I supposed to stop the other 6 deadly sins?
Thriving in Christ
If I understand the entire point of the bible correctly, I have learned that God created us, loves us, and wants us to be completely satisfied in Him. Sin makes that impossible because it separates us from Him. So He sent Jesus to bear the full weight of His wrath at sin on the cross.
When I first started to listen to John Piper I was really confused about “Christian hedonism”, the idea that we could experience delirious joy by pursuing relationship with Christ above all other things. I only fully realized this truth when I began to allow God to strip away the things that used to bring me pleasure.
I used to cling to my television programs as a means to escape real life, only my real life never stopped happening. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Friends, and many other shows were a distraction that never solved my fundamental, real world problems. I went thumbing through the pages of the Bible trying to understand how to break free from addiction to food—my drug of choice—and found that only a sincere pursuit of holiness allowed me to see myself as I really was; guilty of the great sin of idolatry. I began to pray for God to show me what pure pleasure looked like and found that it was worshipping Him—which is basically experiencing the rapture of loving and being loved by Him in every experience, every day. We cannot perceive Him with the eyes, but our hearts are enlightened when we read his words and pray. It wasn’t until I learned to throw the candy in the trash and stop stealing things that didn’t belong to me—not out of fear but out of love—that I saw what being free in Christ really means. I am no longer a slave to my passions. I can say yes to deep and abiding peace and love through Jesus, and no to fear, guilt, and shame.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8
My destination is no longer Self because I found that sea to be full of deadly peril. My destination is Jesus Christ. I have learned that sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings brings sanity to everyday life. He told his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. This is a painfully rewarding act of love that one can only do once they fully surrender to Him. But the mutiny and madness of maintaining a healthy lifestyle are nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I am willing to suffer the loss of ALL things. (To paraphrase the Apostle Paul).
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6
If you feel trapped by the thrall of addiction, are shackled by guilt, are afraid of the terrors of death and dying, or simply want to experience the true joy of living as human beings were created to live, call out to Jesus. You will never find a more faithful friend. He will show you how to sail victoriously on the high seas of life. And afterward, you will know everlasting joy and peace with him in paradise. Now THAT is a distinctly positive path even Chuck Norris would approve of!
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