After Deciding to Decide - First Baptist Church

October 8, 2019

By Matt Fairchild, Worship Pastor

This is part two in a series on dietary wellness. If you would like to read part one click here: Deciding to Decide: A Look at Dietary Wellness

The Journey To Success

So you have Decided to Decide to eat well and you have said something like, “for the rest of my life this is how I will eat!” You have gone a few days eating right and the thrill of dietary wellness is fading as the donuts, chips , and ice cream call your name. How do you “keep on keeping on” in the journey toward dietary wellness? First, we must define our goals. Then, define what success will be as it pertains to eating well.

WhatAre Your Goals

Are you goals to lose weight, lower blood pressure, curb diabetes or fight it outright? Are there other goals like recovering from a surgery or avoiding family history? Whatever your goals are write them down. Put them in your notes app on your phone or write them in your journal, and make sure that you take the time to look at them often, at least every week. Place them somewhere that you can’t miss them to keep your goals top of mind and your resolve strong.

Defining Success

What is your definition of success? Is success eating perfectly every day without missing a beat? Is it eating mostly well and having cheat foods here and there? Or is it completely giving into cravings and eating junk food when we want to and then when we feel guilty enough about it, getting back on the diet? Probably not the last scenario for sure, but somewhere in between the first two is where we want to be in the real world.

Let’s be honest and realistic, you want to live and have some occasional indulgences here and there. You’re going to end up somewhere that your only options are the friend chicken and the fried chicken.

Having these occasional indulgences are not going to set us back physically if, and only if, they are every once in a while. That is why they are called “occasional indulgences.” Webster’s Dictionary defines the word indulge as, “to give free rein to: to take unrestrained pleasure in”. This is where we must be careful as sometimes those indulgences can lead to our “giving in” scenario from earlier. We must consider these occasional indulgences to be satisfying enough for that moment, then leave that moment there and get back to our journey and what we are going to call “eating on purpose”.

Proverbs 23:20-21

Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine
or with those who gorge themselves on meat.
For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,
and the grogginess will clothe them in rags.

Eating On Purpose

The phrase “eating on purpose” embodies this text. We must be purposeful in what we eat. Make food work for us instead of us being controlled by food. “Eat to live, not live to eat,” as the saying goes. What we put into our bodies effects not only our bodies but it effects our minds and our self image. It can make us feel sluggish and take our determine how in or out of balance our energy levels are.

At the end of verse 21, the phrase, grogginess will clothe them in rags is so true! How many times have you eaten a fast food dinner and then said, “I feel like getting a run in!” Processed and junk foods make us feel sluggish and we don’t very often achieve our goals as a result of that sluggishness. The couch looks a lot better than the pavement after a junk food meal.

How Do We Respond?

God wants us to enjoy the foods that He has given us to eat. Man has created lots of foods that can cause addictions. If we start by steering clear of processed foods (i.e. high fructose corn syrup and white flour) then we have started eating on purpose. There are many ways to eat on purpose and all of them take self-discipline. Meal Prepping, choosing healthier food options as restaurants and saying no to that fizzy beverage are a few of those disciplines.

Start by praying and dedicating your body to Christ. Ask Him to help you be disciplined and relieve the stresses, depressions and anxieties that lead to over indulgence. Finally, begin by asking Him, when those situation come up that He remind you of HIs abundant grace and ask for strength to stay strong in purposeful eating through those times.

Decide to decide that you will glorify God with your body and eat on purpose!