Pursue endurance & doing what is right

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” I Timothy 6:11

Verse Reflections:  We should not walk about from our bad habits we should “flee from all of this”.  God is telling us not to fool ourselves into thinking we can “kindof” change our habits.  No!  We have to change.  We have to run away from all the bad habits that put us in this position.  Only then can we pursue the right eating habits that He is calling us to live by.  We have been given delicious God foods that can change our lives.  When we pursue the “right-ness” in our eating then we can endure the slow, but steady weight loss path that will bring us back to health.   This is not fast, this is not always easy.  But, I can live this way for the rest of my life and I am eliminating unhealthy pounds.  God has given us the right foods to eat and they are delicious.  We are surrounded every day by great marketing, by fast food restaurants, by delicious foods in ads.  Our mouths water, our brains spin and we want more.  To make the cycle worse, the foods that are not from God literally block the production of leptin, our hormone that makes us feel full.  When we are producing a lot of insulin to process these unhealthy foods our blood sugar spikes up and then sharply falls back down.  This can cause dizziness, blurred vision and hunger.  Our body thinks we do not have enough food even though we just “pigged out” on unhealthy foods.  This is a vicious, vicious cycle.  An alcoholic is not able to have just one drink.  We are blessed to be able to have “one” processed indulgence but we cannot overindulge.  In times of stress, and until we get rid of the physical cravings we have to “flee” from non-God foods.  They are addictive and create this roller coaster of cravings.

Prayer:  Father, help me today to flee from not eating right.  For me, this is unrighteousness, not choosing the right things You created.  Your word gives me the godliness that I can stand on.  May I lay claim to the power You put in Your word today?  Will You also help me pursue this godliness every day?  There are days I just jump up and go without stopping to devote time to You.  I know the difference and I am not as strong when I try to depend on my own strength.  In fact, I will go so far as to say without You I fail.  Every day.  Every time.  God I need the power of endurance You ask me to pursue in this verse also.  I am used to all the promises of fast weight loss and I am always looking for the magical solution.  I am old enough to know there is no magic but Your power is real and I have to have faith that I will lose weight if I pursue this solution.  I have already proven that this works but I slide back enough to know that I have to be patient, I have to keep enduring my slow weight loss knowing this is a lifestyle change.  Father surround me with Your power and the desire to flee from my decades of unhealthy habits.  I love You.  We got this!