“Heart Before Hips”

I received a message from a TBYT reader once who was lamenting her weight problems. She wrote, "Nothing I do is working. Why won't God help me get rid of this weight?" Before she wrote that, she detailed other issues in her life. She:

• Had suffered the loss of two loved ones and was still grieving
• Faced an uncertain job situation
• Battled depression and anxiety

She was going through a rough time. Our emotions can impact our weight loss greatly. As I thought about how to respond to her, a phrase popped into my head:

God cares more about the condition of your heart than the size of your thighs.''

That statement made me think about the condition of my own heart. Consider Proverbs 4:23: ''Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.'' For this reason, the Lord always speaks with us at the heart level. Take Jesus’ dealings with the Pharisees for example. They were the religious leaders of His day but in every case, he rebuked them for being more concerned with their outward appearance than the condition of their hearts. In Matthew 23:27, He said "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness." I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible where the Lord condemned someone about their weight. The only 2 Bible stories I remember in which the men were called ''fat'' were Eli the priest and Eglon, the King of Moab in the Old Testament. Even though Eli was described in this way physically, God did not condemn him for that. Rather, the Lord addressed Eli about His heart issue. God was not pleased with Eli because Eli honored his sons above God. Eli refused to restrain them, even though he knew his sons corrupted their temple service, taking the best of the meat offerings for themselves and sleeping with the women. God deals with us at the heart level. The Bible says that "the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). Consider a woman who is slim and looks great on the outside. But in the privacy of her home, she regularly stuffs herself with food, then vomits it up. In this case, her weight is fine. Her thighs are small and her hips are trim. She can wear all the cute outfits. But God doesn’t care about that – he cares about the stress and anxiety that is driving her to destructive behavior - her heart issue. His focus is going to be on getting to the heart of the matter…healing her of the thoughts and behaviors driving that cycle. Love is the motivator, not condemnation. See the difference? That is why the Take Back Your Temple approach (TBYT) to weight loss is different. We focus on the heart and mind of the person before we even discuss food. I like to think of this better approach as "heart before hips." Our vision reflects what we believe from the heart:

We envision disciples of Christ living complete in Him:

• Respecting our bodies as God’s temple
• Renewing our minds through God’s word
• Rebuilding our health through God’s strength and,
• Responding to others through God’s love to impact the world for Jesus

When you believe as I and other TBYT members believe, you commit to allowing God to work on your heart to transform you from the inside out. It's not always easy. After all, Jesus never promised His disciples that it would be. However, He did promise that it would be worth it! Our aim is to honor God in our bodies and Spirit. And He is with us every step, guiding us with His word, wisdom, strength and stability. So when you are considering your weight issues, I hope that you value the condition of your heart before your hips. When you do that, your weight loss will be motivated by the right reasons! Be blessed with health, healing and wholeness, Kimberly Taylor, Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple program P.S. Tired of running the same self-defeating cycles? The value of the Take Back Your Temple program is that you will learn how to think differently through Biblical truth. You’ll discover how to lay aside what is weighing you down. Join a support community of other empowered Christians discovering how to release weight and keep it off. Click here to become a Take Back Your Temple program member.