The Root of Disordered Eating

PLEASE READ JOHN 8:1-12 

In the beginning, God created the heavens & the earth.  He took 6 days to form the ground we walk on, the waters we swim in, the flowers we smell, the trees & animals we enjoy.   He also created man & woman.

Everything was perfect.  The earth & all that was in it functioned beautifully.  The man & woman had an entire garden to eat from.  They could eat anything they wanted, as much as they wanted, anytime they wanted.

There was only one guardrail God placed around this freedom of eating.  They weren’t to eat of the one tree in the middle of the garden.  The tree of the knowledge of good & evil {Genesis 2:17} was off limits. 

But, as I’m sure you know the story, Eve fell for the trick of Satan as he questioned her identity & the voice of God in her life, then Adam did the same.  They became ashamed of their food choice & of their bodies in a turn of events theologians like to call the “fall of man”. 

But what does this biblical history from thousands of years ago have to do with us today?  The day Adam & Eve chose to listen to the voice of the enemy a domino effect was set in motion. 

Among other things, the voice of the enemy questioned the identity God had given them; he made them doubt that they could trust God & he caused them to be ashamed of their bodies.  And thus, throughout human history, the world has distorted our view of foods as “good & bad”, caused us to judge our bodies & most disappointing, doubt the God who created us actually loves us the way He says He does.

If you, like me, have ever eaten & then felt guilty, made diet resolutions to start over & “be good” with your eating or felt like you are separated from God because of your food or body choices, then the enemy has gotten a hold of your heart the same way he did Adam & Eve & the same way he did mine.  It’s an unfortunate ongoing world cycle that was set in motion in the beginning of time but was also set in motion somewhere in the cycle of your own life.

The single act of sin thousands of years ago in the garden, has led many to feel defeated in regards to food choices & body image today.  And likely all the feelings you & I have felt regarding food, the obsessions with thinking about it & arranging our lives around it, the multiple “diet restarts” & the guilt that ensues every time we “mess up” are truly a control issue.  

Somewhere in our life, something or someone caused us to question our body image, our identity & our self-worth.  For some reason we choose food as the control mechanism to make us feel better momentarily & then almost instantly we also self-condemn over that same food choice.

But at the start of it all, there is a heart issue.  Our hearts were led astray by the enemy who made us believe we aren’t good enough to be loved & accepted by God & that we can’t trust our Father to have our best interest at heart. 

But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus & through Jesus we are fully loved & accepted. 

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world & men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  John 3:17-19

 The first thing we must get straight before moving forward in food freedom is that we are not condemned by the God who loves us.  As children of God, He loves us & looks on us with the same love that He sees when He looks at His own Son, Jesus.

So while self-control is a real aspect of food issues, it’s not the first facet we need to examine.  The first is condemnation. 

You see, a lack of self-control is actually a sinful issue, but there is a BIG difference in sin & condemnation. 

We have to separate our sinfulness from condemnation.  Once we trust in Jesus as our Savior, our sins are forgiven.  Jesus took on Himself the condemnation we should’ve faced for our sin.  Any condemnation we feel comes directly from the accuser, Satan {Revelation 12:10}.

When Jesus was brought face to face with the woman accused of adultery in John 8:1-12, His direct words to her were “I don’t condemn you, go & sin no more”.  Jesus separated her sin from her guilt & told her she was free in Him to live uncondemned. 

Romans 8:1 furthers our understanding that as His children we are not condemned of our sin but instead are free to walk abundantly in Him.

Prayer for today:  God, when I feel guilt or condemnation especially surrounding food choices, help me to remember that You have completely cleared all my sin & that You are not the One condemning me.

 

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