LEGALISM
AND DIETING STUDY
By Paula Neall Coleman
1.
Look up the following verses and, in your own words, write
what each of the verses says about what motivates
Christians to act in a godly manner.
a)
Romans 2:4
b)
2 Corinthians 5:14 (see the NASB or Amplified translations)
c)
Galatians 5:16
d)
1 Corinthians 6:12
2.
Read the following summary of what was said in Weight of
Grace small group discussions about what motivates
women to be self-controlled.
a)
It was noticed that we all have discipline in several areas,
such as work, brushing our teeth regularly,
following traffic laws, doing laundry, pursuing
college degrees and continuing education, etc.
The reasons for having this discipline
varied. The
following are some reasons given by group members:
·
Recognizing what the consequences will be if we don’t
follow through.
·
Having a desire to “work as unto the Lord.”
·
Wanting to achieve our goals (in education, career, salary,
etc.).
·
Having a love for others and wanting to be conscientious for
their sakes.
·
The Holy Spirit motivating us to “die to self.”
These
are all valid reasons for doing “what is
right” and can apply to why we would do what is
right for ourselves in terms of our eating for the
right reasons.
b)
In discussing what would keep us from being totally out of
control if we gave up dieting forever, these were
mentioned as factors that
engender self-control:
·
The Holy Spirit empowers us.
·
Our new nature in Christ includes a desire to be moderate and
to be conformed to Christ’s image.
·
When we don’t have a bunch of rules, then we don’t have
to keep fighting the urge to break them all the
time.
·
Knowing we can have whatever we want whenever we want it
means we don’t have to have it all now.
·
We don’t really want to feel so uncomfortable after eating.
·
We can go ahead and feel our emotions and communicate with
God about them so that eating is not the way we
deal with them.
3.
Look over the list in #2a of five reasons we have discipline.
For each reason listed, give an example
from your own life when you have had discipline
for that reason.
4.
Look over the list in #2b of six things that facilitate
self-control.
For each one, give an example of a
situation in your own life where that reason could
apply or has applied.
Comments on the Legalism and Dieting Study
By
the time women get to this study in their Weight
of Grace small group experience (session 10 of
14), many of them are already experimenting with
letting go of diets and looking to those inward
physical signals and promptings of the Spirit that
enable them to eat in accordance with hunger
instead of in response to their emotions and/or
need to be “fat.”
However, others are still struggling with
whether a “spirit of self control” will
manifest itself in regard to their eating.
For these women, it’s important for them
to make an assessment of their overall Christian
experience and recognize that God is already at
work in many aspects of their lives, with dieting
and eating constituting only a fraction of the
areas in which God is transforming them into the
image of his Son.
Upon reflection, many women realize that
they have already had victories thanks to the work
of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
They tell of how they sought God to help
them control their tongues, especially with
children or husbands, and saw dramatic success and
change. Or
they realize that God has enabled them to manage
their money and/or time better as they’ve
matured in their relationship with him.
A
friend of mine, who doesn’t have a struggle with
food, spent years trying to make herself arrive at
work and appointments on time. It was when she finally gave up on her own will power and
threw herself on the mercy of God that she started
being on time for things more and more often.
It is several years later now, and she’d
never think of being late for work. She’s practically forgotten what a struggle that once was.
Another friend could never seem to keep her
home clean and in any way orderly.
This created a problem when she wanted to
have people over for a visit.
She could only invite those she knew would
overlook the mess and pick their way through the
clutter in order to sit down or walk across a
room. She
looked to God to change this habit and gradually
became more and more tidy until she found she was
actually uncomfortable when things got to a
certain level of dishevelment.
Look at some of the areas of life that the Bible says are
most important – demonstrating love through
action, forgiveness, returning good for evil,
praying, seeking opportunities to get to know God
better, sharing the gospel with unbelievers.
It is very likely that you have gradually
made progress is several of these areas.
This is because the Holy Spirit indwells
you and you have the new heart of a new creation
in Christ. If
God is at work in you to change you in these
areas, why wouldn’t he also work in the area of
eating? You
don’t need a diet to keep yourself in line.
In fact, that diet is sabotaging not only
your ability to eat moderately, but also your
relationship with God.
This is why God doesn’t let Christians
succeed at dieting.
Succeeding at diets is failing at trusting
in him.
Look
for future “Food for Thought” articles about
how, for the Christian, just being yourself is the
answer to overcoming obsessions with overeating
and overweight.
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