Let me get this out of the way right now: there is no such thing as a “Jesus Diet”. There is no magical formula for weight loss if we would just follow Christ’s “three keys of eating”. I don’t believe in any of that nonsense. I don’t believe that there is a secret, biblical eating code. However that isn’t to say that Jesus never spoke about food. In fact, he spoke about food constantly and the topic comes up again and again in Scripture.
At the same time I (as well as multitudes of us) have spent many years in a state of absolute desperation because of our bondage to food, our penchant for indulgent eating, and the dire consequences of a mortal frame weighed down by excess fat. The fruits of our behaviour, so to speak, have been a full serving of emotional, psychological, and physical pain. We have hated ourselves. We have vacillated between restriction and rebellion. We have felt captive to seemingly endless cycles of debauchery, shame, and unsuccessful dieting attempts. Who will rescue us? I am given hope by the following passage:
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 9:35-36
Can Jesus heal every disease? Does he care about my life-afflicting struggle with compulsive eating and its resulting fatness? I hold out hope that Jesus has radical compassion for the corpulent, and that he desires to help me specifically. Perhaps the real question is “Am I willing to allow him to be my Shepherd?” Did you hear what Jesus’ message was to these harassed and helpless people? It was the gospel of the kingdom. It was the good news that we might be redeemed by God and that his reign might live inside us. Let me deliver the punchline right now by saying with conviction that this is the answer we seek. This is the solution God offers.
I think I can safely say that Jesus doesn’t care much about whether or not I have abs. Yet I believe that he stands in the throne room of heaven, willing to deliver us from our afflictions:
We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us, as you help us by your prayers
2 Corinthians 2:8-11
Did you catch Paul’s reason for why they were in such a state? God did not want them trusting in themselves, but trusting in Him. I think it is safe to say that if God has the power to bring someone back from the dead, he is qualified to deliver us from our struggle. How many diets have you tried? How many times have you hopelessly attempted to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps? And how has that worked so far? Take stock. Think about your history. Has anything “worked” thus far? I think it might be time for a new playbook.
I am convinced that Jesus wants to give us “life to the full” (John 10:10) through the B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth!). I also believe that God’s playbook “is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12-13). God lays out in the pages of Scripture everything we need to find the rest, mercy, and freedom we seek, if we will just listen with soft and obedient hearts rather than rebellious hearts destined to fall in the desert.
Over a number of weeks to follow I will be guiding us through what I think are key passages that get to the heart of our wounds and struggles around food. I promise these will be little bites. As we hunger and thirst for righteousness, I believe we will be truly filled (Matthew 5:6).
Won’t you join me as we walk this path together?