You might think your weight is a personal thing, one that God won’t get involved in, but contrary to our less than higher way of thinking, God does care about our weight and He is compassionate about giving us the answers we need to be free.
You may also think being overweight is okay with God, and have even convinced yourself it is okay with you, but neither are truths that will set you free from being in bondage. Being in bondage is being held captive and Jesus didn’t give His life for us to be imprisoned, but He gave His life to set us free from anything that is not good, anything that would take away from our well-being.
Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
(Isa. 53:4-5 AMP)
God cares deeply for us and has made provision for our health, happiness, peace, and our well-being. It’s clear when looking at the Word of God we are important to God and He wants to be a part of our lives.
God cares about our weight because it is not only a bondage; it also influences our health and well-being. In my own difficulty, I asked God to help me to lose the weight. His answer as usual was full of compassion and revelation. He said I should desire to be healthy rather than to be thin, and as I changed my eating habits to be as He intended, the weight would no longer be an issue.
Besides our health and well-being mattering to God, how we represent God in our appearance also matters to Him. When we call ourselves Christians, yet we are sick, overweight, distressed, and in bondage to food—when we don’t like ourselves—we are not representing God accurately.
So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.
(Gen. 1:27)
We were created to be a reflection of our Father and it’s important to Him that we live in His likeness.
Can you imagine how the Father would look if He were standing before you? Do you think He would be overweight, sick with heart disease, diabetes, or have high blood pressure? What about having to take medications because of His eating habits? Do you think He would overeat, or eat food (man-made food) designed by Satan to kill, steal, and destroy?
Truly, take a moment and imagine with me how our Father would look. I imagine He would not only be beautiful inside, but outside. I imagine He would look healthy, strong, thin, and fit—a perfect image of Man, as Jesus was when He was here.
We were created in the likeness of our Father, a perfect image of a Man. We were created to be like God and to live in His likeness, to imitate Him (Eph. 5:1).
We have to make the choice to honor and esteem God by choosing to stay true to His intentions for us. We have to choose to be a strong representative of His, and when we make that choice He will empower us to do His will.
God wants to empower us with His wisdom. He wants us to know His intentions for our eating, which will also reflect His intentions for our health. When we live as God intended, we will represent Him in our health, well-being, and our vitality. When we are happy and have a zest for life we will be living the good life God intended - simultaneously proving God is good.
Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.
(Matt. 7:13-14)
Satan’s goal is to keep us miserable and on the path to destruction, using anything he can to accomplish his goal. His desire is to control us just as he controlled Adam and Eve when he convinced them to eat off the tree (disregarding God's command). Satan’s suggestive thoughts are controlling many of God’s children and have them in bondage to many things, one being food. It is one of Satan’s ploys to control us using food which causes obesity, sickness, distress, and misery. It is His plan to keep us downtrodden on that path to destruction.
The narrow path is God’s way and is full of His wisdom and revelation knowledge which will empower us to see clearly, living free from Satan’s control. When we walk the narrow path doing the will of the Father we will live happy and blessed as our Father intended. We will live free from being controlled by anything or anyone because we are committed to the Father.
I would like to encourage you today to be that representative God is calling you to be, not only in character, but in health and well-being. God wants us to show who He is, so that others can see His goodness and His compassion.
When we live as God intended we will be showing the Father’s true character, representing Him for who He is, concurrently helping others to make a clear choice for their life here and now, and for eternity.