Is food occupying your mind where God should be?
It was a hard question I had to ask myself when I struggled with emotional eating.
“Food is not the fix for everything” was the lesson I had to learn.
You see, if I was mad, I ate; if I was sad, I ate; if I was bored, I ate; if I was tired, I ate.
Eventually, I ate my way up to 240 pounds.
But God showed me that He is the fix for everything!
He could give me the daily answers I needed to glorify Him in every situation, including my eating habits.
I once counted how many times I thought about food in a single day.
I counted 77 times!
No wonder I wanted to eat all the time back then.
In Matthew 22:37, Jesus said,
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
I had a problem loving the Lord with all my mind when food occupied so much of it.
Because I did not know or practice Biblical wisdom to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:5), food grew into an obsession.
In fact, my food obsession became idol worship for me. Idol worship is simply investing a person, inanimate object, or activity with powers it does not have.
To see what I mean, imagine how some oft-quoted bible verses would sound if you replaced God/Lord with the word ”food”:
• “The joy of food is my strength.”
• “Food heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
• “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in food.”
• “Trust in food with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge food and it shall direct your path.”
• “The righteous man will be glad in food and will take refuge in it; and all the upright in heart will glory.”
I used to live as if I believed that.
It is estimated that 10 million people in the United States suffer from eating disorders.
So clearly, this is not a small problem. From my experience, Christians are vulnerable to this issue as much as anyone else. Perhaps even more.
Here is why:
We have a real enemy who hates us because of the God we love.
Ephesians 6:12 says,
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
What better way can the enemy destroy us than through food obsession and food abuse? He exploits our need for food to survive.
So rather than suggesting we grab a Bible (whose Words we can use to Spiritually defeat him), he suggests that we instead grab a bag, box, plate, knife, or a fork!
The apostle Paul wrote about people who elevated filling their stomachs above God in Philippians 3:18-19:
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things.”
I am so thankful to Jesus that He sets us free from sin’s dominion. Oh, how He loves us! He traded His own life to redeem us.
In Luke 4:18, Jesus said what He came to do:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;”
If you are suffering from emotional hurts (brokenhearted), captive to food obsession, blind to the destruction this habit is causing you, and oppressed by food abuse, then you qualify for Jesus’ help!
We need ensure that we incline our hearts to the Lord everyday and fill up with love for Him as He loves us.
Invite Jesus into this issue through prayer and then start renewing your mind to His Living Word daily. Psalm 27:11 is a simple prayer:
Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
The book of John is also a great place to start to get to know how your Savior lived.
As you study the Bible more, you will learn to recognize thoughts that exalt themselves above God.
Cast those lies down with the truth. Only by taking every thought captive will you be free from captivity to food obsession.
In addition, recognize that the emotional eating habit has a biological basis as well.
So pay attention to those foods that you have difficulty with self-control with you eat them.
It is likely that it is a food that has hijacked your brain.
God has provided many food choices for us. Focus on the foods that help you, not hurt you.
In that way, you can devote your energy to fulfilling your God-given calling.
You can lay aside every weight that hinders you and finish your race well!
Be Blessed with Health, Healing, and Wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple Weight Loss Community
P.S. Do you struggle with overeating sugar? If so, you are not alone!
Overcoming sugar addiction was a key factor on my weight loss journey; I lost 85 pounds and dropped from a size 22 to an 8.
In our 14-day Sugar Detox Challenge online course (inside the Take Back Your Temple Community), you’ll get the same success strategies and support to gain peace in your eating habits and achieve lasting weight loss.
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple Christian Weight Loss Community.
Besides the word Food, one should read or include another word, Drink (liquor). There’s no food more distructive than this. It is the worse addiction that can be drunk…
What a GREAT article!!! So true and revealing. This is the spiritual problem for MANY Christians. They don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs. They EAT!!! And not just when they are hungry. This is my problem also. I am 95 pounds over weight. I need to paste this article on my mirror, car dash, refrigerator, and cupboards…..Thank you for enlightening us & giving us the truth.
I appreciate your comment, Judy and praise God for giving us His Spirit and His word to set us free!
Hi, thank you so much for your Bible studies. I am in desperate need of prayer. I just feel defeated by not being able to lose weight.
Hi Teresa – I have prayed for you. You may feel defeated at times, but the truth is that you are not. Every success story in history has twists and turns, even setbacks. But you are not alone in this. This Lord is with you and He has begun a good work WITHIN you. That’s God’s way to change – inside out. Ask Him to show you what is the next step you should take in changing your health habits for good. He will show you and walk with you through the process.
I love how you inserted the word FOOD into those places where the Lord should be! That is how I see food sometimes. that is my problem. Thank you Kimberly for this website.
This was a fantastic article. I recognized this in myself a few years ago. The realization that I was doing this seems to make it harder to defeat. I too would love some personalized advice if you have time for a short private response. Thanks so much for posting this. It gives me scripture I can go to and finally conquer this stronghold in my life
Hi Kimberly, thank you so much for this post!! I previously had binge eating disorder, and was doing pretty well not binging but suddenly relapse back into it this week. I am also a believer of God, and He just showed me that I cannot rely on myself to overcome this because it is Christ who gives me strength. It also just made me realize that I’m not alone and I don’t need to turn to food for happiness or satisfaction since Christ is the only one who can fulfill the deep longing within! He is all and in all. I especially liked where you wrote food instead of God as the substitution in the Bible verses, it just made me see how much food was starting to replace Him. But praise Him since its never too late to confess and come back to the Lord who is always there and willing to take us back despite our sins! Praise the lord!!! 🙂
Your sister in Christ, Elizabeth
Kimberly, I just want to thank you profoundly for giving Christians like me a place to find help that points us back to our Lord for His grace. Why do I keep forgetting? There is a peace and a stillness I feel from reading your bible study and these posts that make me feel so much less frantic about food. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Hello Kimberly,
I ran into your website a few weeks ago when doing some research on gluttony and binge eating. Almost 2 years ago the Lord radically changed my life in almost every way possible, through salvation he broke the chains on death and freed me from so many sins that once had control over me but no longer do. I am currently a sophomore in collage and in that last year I have been turning to binge eating to fill voids of being single and stressed about school and probably other things I don’t even realize. I have recently gained 30 pounds and being a young women in our society, along with the weight came major negative body image issues which has escalated into depression. I cant lose weight because I haven’t been able to get the binge eating under control. Its a struggle but your website has helped a lot. I wasn’t fully aware that this is not uncommon (especially in Christians) I just thought I was going crazy.I am ready to overcome this for good, I don’t know how much longer I can take it. It has slowly begun to effect every aspect of my life. Thank you so much for you’re help. If you would like to personally email me I would be more than honored to talk more about everything.
Thank you
Praise God, Christine! You will overcome this, step by step. God will be with you every step of the way. The only thing you need to watch is the temptation to get frustrated and give up on yourself. But the 100% way to never get what you want is to give up. At least if you keep moving, there is hope. So resist the urge to condemn yourself because all that does is dis-courage you (take your courage away) and you need that to succeed!
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Great post, I started going to your website a month ago and its been so helpful. In fact I was doing so well that I even started to lose weight. I had a set back however, I fell and broke my leg 4 weeks ago, since then I have been struggling with bitterness and have been overeating knowingly sinning against God because I was mad at him for allowing me to break my leg. I’m repenting and wanting to get back on track, I’m so grateful you are here 🙂
Ouch, Julie! I am so sorry to hear about your leg. About 7 years ago, I fell down some stairs after running to catch a train. I tore some ligaments in my knee and had a severe ankle sprain. I remember how painful that was, and how patient and diligent I had to become while recovering. So I understand a bit about what you are going through.
Forgive yourself. God is not a God of condemnation, but restoration. You are being restored day by day. You may feel conviction about overeating, but with that God will tell you what to do to put a stop to it. Each meal, just focus on relaxing and enjoying the food, being grateful for what you have. Overeating often happens when you eat fast and without thinking. I’d take the advice in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Time is going to pass anyway, but you get to choose whether it passes pleasantly or not. Praying for your healing!
Hello, I have been a foreign missionary for the last 12 years. I met and married my husband on the mission field and now have 3 daughters. Food has always been important to me but in the last 8 years it is something that I have not been able to overcome. Right now I weigh 247lbs down from 289. Even though I have lost weight food still controls me. I would appreciate some personalized help so that I can serve the Lord as I am meant to. God Bless
Jennifer – I emailed you with my response. God bless you!