January always means a diet, right? Some kind of cleanse or new commitment to only eat clean or avoid certain foods to get rid of those holiday pounds and get summer bod ready. But what if January didn’t mean that? What if it meant something new? Kate is sharing in this episode how she is laying down her regularly programmed diet ritual and trusting as God calls her out to something new, something better.

*TRIGGER WARNING* If you have a complicated relationship with food, this may be an episode you want to consider with caution

TRUTH:

Colossians 2:6-8 and 16-23

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Here are culture lies and truth from God’s word:

• Culture says: your weight equals your worth

God says:

Philippians 3:19: Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Luke 12:6-7: Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

You were worth Jesus to God

• Culture says: your value comes from the way you look

God says:

Matthew 6:25: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Romans 12:1-2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

1 Samuel 16:7: For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

• Culture says: you will get more praise the better you look

God says:

Proverbs 31:30: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

1 Peter 3:3-4: Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

Isaiah 61:3: They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

• Culture says: don’t eat certain foods; you have to eat clean

God says:

Colossians 2:20-23:  If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

1 Timothy 4:1-5: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Romans 14:17: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

• Culture says: you need to look like this

God says:

Psalm 139:14: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1 Timothy 4:8: For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Isaiah 64:8: But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Romans 9:20: But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

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