Are You Focused on Growing or Shrinking? Not Missing What's Important on Your Weight Loss Journey Wfw Episode 17

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey, they're had, They're creak more here. I'm so glad you're listening to the Compared to You podcast. Today we're in our Waiting for Weight Loss series and y'all, it's almost Easter. We're almost there. But if you haven't joined the Waiting for Weight Loss community yet, feel free to join us there. We're going to keep those conversations going long past Easter. The address is Waiting for Weightloss dot com and you can sign up and be part of the conversation we're having there. Today. Our topic is focusing on growing not shrinking. That's where I'm going today. I'm glad you're here for it. Today's topic is focusing on growing not shrinking. Have you ever thought about what you're focusing on? What's your purpose? You see, you aren't living for the purpose of weight loss. I mean if you are, if that's become your main purpose in life, then friend, like you've lost what God puts you on the earth here to do. You're here to glorify Him, to love him, to love others. How you take care of your body is not the main purpose in life. Can you imagine the disciples like Jesus is like come follow me, and they say will as soon as I lose a few pounds, like as soon as I got to hit this CrossFit work out, and then I'll be right there like no. Our time on earth is short. It's limited, and God has given us things to do, important things. He's called you and he's called me. He's made us for his purpose. He made us on purpose, for purpose. Our lives are so much more than our body size. So here's the question. Are you focused on growing or are you focused on shrinking? You see, growing means I'm growing to be more like Jesus. I'm growing in my sanctification. I'm growing in love. He's teaching me lessons, showing me areas in my life where I've been holding on to pride or self righteousness or idolatry or hate or unforgiveness or other sin. And I'm growing to be more like Him as I see those sins, as I confess those sins, as I repent, as I ask Jesus to help me live differently. That's what growth looks like. Growing means that as I.

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Speaker 2: Look back on my life, I look back at last year and I think, wow, I am different this year. I am growing to be more like Jesus. This year, people notice like, oh, you've become more patient.

00:02:56
Speaker 1: You've become more kind. We are growing in spiritual maturity. People can see the fruit of the spirit cultivated in my life. They can see a change. So let me ask you, are you growing in the things that are important? Are you growing spiritually, mentally, emotionally, even physically, Like it's growth to make choices that are good for your body. It's growth to start listening to your body. It's growth to stop when you're tired and exhausted. But it's also growth to get up off the couch when you know you've kind of just been sitting there all day and your body feels just fine, and maybe you should move. It's growth to listen to those signals your body gives you and stop eating when you're full, or have that piece of cake at the birthday party because that's it's the loving thing to do. These are all areas of growth. But here's the thing front. If you only focus on shrinking, if you only focus on weight loss, how you can shrink your body, how you can make your body look different, That's what you're gonna get is a shrunken life, a very small life that is only about you and your body size and your food and your exercise and your health. It's a small, insular life. It gets rocked easily by inanimate objects like the bathroom scale or a box of cookies. It's a life where holiness is distorted into meaning eating a certain way. It's a life that's small and focused on you. And it's a life that misses all the good things that God has given us. It misses God's gifts and God's blessed And there's challenges, of course, and there's situations that will make you grow, of course, But in it you're focused on loving God and loving others, and that's what cultivates the richness and beauty of life. It's not changing your body size. In other words, don't spend your whole life waiting for weight loss. Okay, ouch, friend, I know that might have hurt a little bit. Like I say this from experience, but here this is a wake up call. If you've made weight loss your purpose your goal in life, how many more years are you going to give to this purpose, to this quest. Your life is so much more than the next plan to get thinner or healthier, or trimmer or more muscular and again, friend, hearing me, I'm not saying abandon your health goals. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm just saying, get brutally honest with yourself about your priorities in life. What are they? What do you spend most of your time thinking about? What do you spend most of your money on? If the answer is your body, that's the wrong answer, friend. It means the journey has become an idol for you. You know, I read a statistic recently and it said they're now finding that more than one hundred and fifty minutes of exercise a week, So one hundred and fifty minutes, let's say, five times a week, thirty minutes each time, can actually have a negative impact on your health. Can you even believe that? Like? Crazy? Right? But what if science is now telling us what we should already know, Like you need to go live a real life. Taking care of your body can account for like five percent of your life. But if taking care of your body is like fifty percent of your life, it's too much. That's not what you were created for. When your life doesn't begin when you lose the weight, it's already begun. You are living it now. Each day is a gift. You're not promised tomorrow or next year. What do you have to do today? Who can you love? Who can you serve? How can you grow? Is your life about growing or shrinking? That's the question for you to ponder today and this weekend. And hey, we've got our next forty day journey coming up in just over a week. I hope you'll join us six weeks of zoom calls with me. I answer your questions about the forty Day Body Image Workbook, and we start a journey together where we examine why have we been stuck living a life of trying to shrink for so many years? And what does it mean to live a life life of growth? What does it mean to pursue health goals while accepting where my body's at right now? What does it mean to keep my hashtag body goals in proper order with what God has put me on this universe? For we go into all of that, it's a great journey. We look at a lot of scripture. I hope you'll join us. It's y'all, it's only fifty nine dollars for six weeks. I mean, it's like ten bucks a week for essentially group coaching. I hope you'll join us. Go to Improvebody image dot com. You can look for the forty day Journey tab and you can join us there. I'd love to see you there. Hey, thanks for listening today. I hope you come back to the next episode. Met by Bte Mayor two Podcasts is pradby part of the Life Audio Podcast Network. For more great Christian podcast go to life audio dot com.