A friend recently made a statement that I have heard
many times. “I just don’t have the willpower you do.”
Two years ago my entire family went on a very
restrictive weight loss program. On this program you ate from a very limited
list of foods. All of us lost weight as promised. But I lost much more. I lost
asthma and its accompanying heavy duty trio of medications. I lost debilitating
pain, as well as the heavy-duty pair of medications I took for it. Depression
that I experienced left with these other symptoms. As time went on, I was also
able to stop taking other medications and reduce my insulin intake. Five years ago, I felt like 50 going on 70, I
now feel like 55 going on 45.
With these results, I began to research which of the
foods not on that list had been causing so many health problems. As a result, I
added back in many good foods to my daily eating plan. But have chosen to stay
away from gluten products, sugar and artificial sweeteners, dairy and corn. I’ve
eaten this way for over two years now and have been able to stay asthma, pain
and depression -free. The extra work is
so worth it.
When people make the comments about my willpower, my
reply is always the same. In many ways it is easier for me to resist the tasty,
but harmful foods. Whereas many people attempt to eat healthy to lose weight
and experience a bit more energy, I know what is at stake for me. I know the
devastating effects of the pain, difficulty breathing and constant heaviness of
heart. When tempted to eat something that I once loved, it does not take long
to remember these things. A hint of going back to that unhealthy, trapped life
is enough to power my will to say no. I’m not saying no to a doughnut, a
biscuit or even a gooey, hot fudge sundae. I’m saying yes to pain-free, asthma-free,
depression-free living. I will not dwell
on these things as the Israelites did. “Now the rabble
that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept
again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we
ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the
onions, and the garlic.” (Numbers 11:4 ESV) They
were willing to return to slavery for these things. Not me! “ Lord, help me never to go back again, for
any craving.”
The same principle is at work in my spiritual life.
During that same time that my body had been experiencing the ill effects of
wrong food choices, I had not always chosen the healthiest diet from the word
of God. Just as I had not known what foods were harming me, (I had always eaten
a relatively low-fat, low sugar diet.) I had been attending church regularly and
spending some time with God daily. But I had also spent too much time allowing distractions
and my own perceptions of circumstances to steal the benefits of the joy, peace
and security that God intends for his children.
In the year prior to starting this eating program, I
had allowed God to revise much of my spiritual life. I had given over some of
the time that it previously been swallowed up by useless distractions to Him. I
had also allowed Him to, piece by tiny piece; begin to shatter my wrong
perceptions. I was spending more and more time in the Word. I was seeing more
and more from a perspective that was becoming closer to God’s perspective. I
had discovered that eating a steady diet of reading God’s word, fellowship with
Him and obedience to Him also led to a life of joy, peace and security. This is
a life I will not allow anything within my power to interfere with.
So when people comment on my willpower to get up early
to spend time with God, I have the same response. I know how sick I become when
I don’t spend this time. I know how easy it is to return to staring at my lack
instead of seeing ways to bless others. When I choose to spend my time writing
this blog over recreation, I consider the blessings of obedience far more
pleasant than any missed moment in time. It takes only a moment to remember the
darkness of a life that is insecure, lacking peace and joyless. I have tasted of
the best, and simply can’t return.
Just as I had been relatively healthy in earlier
years of my life, I had experienced health and growth through much of my walk
with God. But just as foods that I had not known were harming me have caused
havoc in my physical body, little additions to my spiritual habits had also
wreaked havoc in my spiritual body. In both cases it took clearing these out to
see just how much damage had been caused. And in both cases it has fueled a
will to never return to that ravaged body.
It would be foolish of me to ever return to my old (natural or
spiritual) eating habits. “For if, after
they have escaped the defilements of the world through
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in
them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it
would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn back from the
holy commandment delivered to them.” (2 Peter 2:20-21 ESV)
Today I will run (pain-free) and breathe deep of the
joy God offers. Will you come along and
let God power your will?
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