Is That Voice Condemnation or Conviction? Understanding the Difference on Your Weight Loss Journey WfW Ep 18

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey friend, Heather Creekmore Here. We're still in our Waiting for Weight Loss series through Easter and today. Our topic is so important because if you don't know how to do this, you will stay stuck in your head and your health goals. Even if you're on your way to meeting them your weight loss goals, you'll still feel lousy along the way. So stay tuned. This is perhaps one of the most important episodes of this series. How can you tell the difference between the Holy Spirit's conviction and condemnation from the enemy. That's where we're going today. I'm glad you're here for it, and today we're talking about a very important topic. In fact, as I've worked with women over the years, is one thing that is simple and yet mind blowing over and over and over again for the women I work with, and that is this concept of conviction versus condemnation. You see, most of us have never paused or stopped to actually figure out what the difference is in what we are hearing in our heads and in our hearts. And so to help make this clear, I've actually written about this in my forty Day Body Image workbook. Looks like this. If you're watching on YouTube, and this book's available everywhere books are sold. But it's forty days worth of content. And I actually walk you through this in something called the forty Day Journey, and you can sign up for that. It starts April sixth, so it's coming right up. But today what I want to do is I can't read the whole book of course, that I want to read you just a little bit from the chapter. It's actually day twenty two, and it's called Renewing your Thought Life, and this is separating the difference between condemnation and conviction. It starts like this. In the C. S. Lewis book The Screw Tape Letters, we read stories of scheming demons. But I realize there's no need for the enemy to spend a lot of thought and time trying to take me out. All he needs is a box of thin mints. Allow me to explain, Girl Scout, cookie season always falls toward the beginning of a new year. You know, the time of year when you're still trying to keep the resolutions you've made about being healthier. That sweet girl in her cute little green uniform calls out from the cookie laden table outside the grocery store do you want to buy some thin mints? Well, of course I do, precious, But what happens next is as predictable as spam in my inbox. I call it promise busting. You see, by the time I've handed that little girl a twenty dollars bill, I've already broken a vow I made to myself last December while washing out those Christmas cookie tins. I swore no more cookies for me. I'm done. It was a ridiculous vow, no doubt, But by filling my pantry with a rainbow of Girl Scout cookie boxes, I flirt with the very food I swore off just six months ago, six weeks ago. Now I have a decision to make to cookie or not to cookie, That is the question. The two lawyers in my head begin negotiations. The cookie defense team explains how Girl Scout cookies are a special treat, only available for a month a year. How foolish I would be to miss that opportunity. Meanwhile, the cookie prosecution reminds me that I'll never meet my body goals if I indulge. The judge sends them to mediation. An agreement is reached. I'll just eat a few today, only just my favorites, can you relate? Of course, there aren't that many cookies in those little boxes, So the next time I run into a desperate little girl scout, I buy more, and the process repeats, like that one episode of the TV show that you didn't really enjoy. Yet it seems to be the only one that's on every time you flip through the channels. So what's really happening in our heads? We've talked about the ways we've been lied to, but let's take a closer look at what's happening in our heads. See, a shame is part of it. Guilt hangs out there too. But as we get better at picking out the lies of the enemy, we must learn to distinguish condemnation from conviction. Simply put, condemnation comes from the enemy and conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. It's often difficult to tell them apart, and sometimes we can even convince ourselves that the enemy's condemnation is helpful. When you feel bad after eating a whole can of pringles, it may seem deserved that condemnation would come and help you shape up your eating habits. That's the tricky thing about the enemy's lies. They always contain some element of truth. If the enemy tried to tell you that pringles are a vegetable, you wouldn't fall for it. But by convincing you that you shouldn't eat tomorrow because you eat pringles today, Satan becomes a weight loss accountability partner. Wait, what for Jesus' followers. Condemnation is never from the Lord, so we never have to listen to it. In fact, Scripture tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Romans eat one. We don't have to live as those who are condemned. We've been declared righteous and free. Too many of us live condemned for our food choices, as if eating something culture labels as bad as a scarlet letter, even though all those green diet powders and clean protein bars are actually processed too. Oops. But I can find nowhere in my Bible that says this is a Christian, healthy or helpful way to live. Instead, I read that Jesus doesn't condemn us for what we eat. Can you believe that he even spells that out for us? It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person. That's Matthew fifteen eleven. So let's get back to condemnation versus conviction. Condemnation accompanies shame. It makes us feel like we should hide or run to an idol to save us. If those voices in your head start scolding you or convincing you that there's something deeply wrong with you because you didn't say no to a thinn mint, this is condemnation. It's not from God. Conviction, on the other hand, is the way the Holy Spirit gently leads us and guides us to right living. We can trust that if we lean not on our own understanding Proverbs three five and six and ask the Lord to guide us, he will help us. But his conviction won't lead to shame or unhealthy solutions. The Holy Spirit's role is to instruct you toward holiness, not in the rules of the Keto plan. Praise God that he offers us grace as we learn to relate to food and healthier ways. His mercies are new every morning. Know that God is not the one replaying in your head what you ate yesterday or how bad your food choices were from last weekend. This is the enemy guilt and shame are never Jesus's answers to the way we struggle. He provided a cure for our sin and shame on the cross. His answer is to confess any sin, return to Him, and walk in the spirit again forgiven. If you rely on God to help you make decisions around food, you can trust that his gentle conviction will tell you when you've had enough. But the Holy Spirit won't call you fatty or remind you repeatedly that you have finished the rest of the box after you've said you'd only eat two. That's where I'll stop. You can read the rest in this forty Day Body Image workbook. I also have a chart here on condemnation versus conviction, and I think this is really helpful, and this is where we're close today. So conviction always brings us closer in connection with God. Are those voices you're hearing in your head that are saying mean things? Do you bring you clin your connection with God? If not, then they're probably condemnation, which attempts to separate us from God. Conviction protects us while condemnation guilds us. Conviction is hope filled. Condemnation brings shame, depression, and anxiety. Conviction is also specific and targeted to lead us to repentance. You did this specific thing, and here is the resolution. The way out is repentance. But condemnation is different. Condemnation is hopeless. You'll never get better. You're such a loser. It's vague, and it's generalizing. You're so lazy, you have no discipline. You know what it sounds like. So, friend, as we consider condemnation versus conviction today, I just want to encourage you. Hey, go grab this book. If this is a problem for you, join us on the next forty day journey. But this is important, right. So many of us have been raised in what I would call diet culture, where we've almost come to believe that those shaming, negative voices are helpful on our weight loss journey. But did you hear what I read there? Condemnation is from the enemy. So if those shaming, guilting voices are what you're considering helpful on your weight loss journey, who have you made your weight loss accountability partner? Satan? Really yikes? No, don't make the enemy your weight loss accountability partner. Front. You don't have to listen to any of his lies, even if they have a shade of truth in them. We are not to live by lies. He is not to be our accountability partner, our coach, our advisor in any way. God has given us the Holy Spirit for that job. He's our comforter, he's our counselor know the difference between his voice and the voice of the enemy, and that's going to be make this journey a whole lot different for you. And I'm so glad you listened today. Again, join us on that forty day journey, friend, I think I think it could be life changing for you. You can sign up at Improvedbody image dot com look for the forty day Journey tab. And if you're not in the waiting for we Lost community yet, maybe today's your day. Or maybe you're there you've joined or hanging out, but you haven't commented yet. What did you think about this episode? Are you listening to condemnation or are you living by conviction? Can't wait to talk with you over there. Thanks for listening. Bye bade Mari two Podcasts is proud to be part of a Life Audio podcast network. For more great Christian podcast go to life audio dot com.