Saying No

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Titus 2:11-14

I was talking a little bit with my husband's step-mom today about my weight loss journey. She & I were sitting at Friendly's with my kiddos chatting about our lives. As a background on her, she is incredibly thin and lost around 50 lbs on Weight Watchers while I didn't think she needed to lose weight from day one. I told her my biggest area of struggle is saying no to eating. I'm doing the work outs, I'm trying to get enough rest for my body to recuperate each day, but when it comes to eating just enough calories to lose weight, I'm still falling short on many days. For example, my salad today came with a free happy-ending sundae. And while I knew the salad in and of itself was more calories than I needed to consume at lunch time, who can give up free ice cream? I rationalized with her that I want to make this a life change and I'm not going to give up dessert forever... however, I'm not sure that that's the attitude I'm meant to have.

I confessed to her that I really struggle when we go out to restaurants. I can't seem to order the healthy options when the delicious unhealthy favorites can be made-to-order and brought right to my table. At home, I just don't buy the stuff I can't have so it's not a temptation in my cupboards. But, at a restaurant even the salads can be devastating to your diet! I don't know how many of you watch the show "The Biggest Loser" but my mother-in-law told me (I don't watch a lot of TV in general) that this week was about that very same issue. Many of the contestants didn't lose a large amount of weight even though they were working out because they were eating out.

As I read this passage, I see that God's grace gives us all that we need to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. For me, overeating is a worldly passion. I can't seem to say "no, thank you" when I'm ordering off a menu; but God's Word tells me I can. I have all I need. What I need to do is rely on Him and make the effort. The Bible tells us that we have all we need to "live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age..." God knew in this present age, we would be on-the-go eaters, restaurant frequenters, etc. And He still gave us His grace to be self-controlled and godly.

And, these verses end with what should be our motivation...Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us and purify us as a people who are His, ready to do good. We need to be fit for service! We need to be holy & pure as Jesus' own people. Thank God He redeemed us and purified us! We don't need to dwell on our past choices but instead remember that by His Word and by His grace and by His blood, we can say NO!

Dear Heavenly Father, help us say no to ungodliness and wordly passions. Instead, help us be self-controlled, upright and godly. Thank You that You purify us and redeem us. Lord, I specifically pray that when we need to go to a restaurant that You give us wisdom on what to eat and how much. I ask that You help us eat healthier things even in our homes. Help us say "NO" to things that You want us to say no to. Help us win this battle! May we glorify and honor You with our bodies today and every day. In Jesus' name, AMEN!