The Story That Changes Everything: Living Free While You're Waiting for Weight Loss - Series Finale ep 20

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Speaker 1: Life audio. Hey friend, we did it. Happy Easter. You've made it through the Waiting for Weight Loss series and hey, if you've missed any episodes, I'm going to keep the series up, so I hope you'll go back and listen through them all in order because I believe that they'll encourage you. But today is a day of celebration because christ is risen. He's risen indeed, and we get to celebrate that this weekend. But before we do, I want to give you something meaty, something to grab them onto, something that is going to really help your weight loss journey and your whole life, because Easter has more to do with your desire to change your body than you may think. And Easter actually holds all of the answers to all of those reasons we struggle. It gives us a new story, a different story, and that's what we're going to talk about today. And I know it's going to encourage your heart this Easter weekend, So I'm so glad you're here. Hey, the forty Day Journey's coming up. We start on Monday. It is not too late to join us. There are still a couple spots left. Go to Improvebody Image dot com look for the forty Day Journey tab and join us for six weeks that will help you remember the most important story and will change maybe everything for you. I can't wait to see you there. Now, let's get some Today's Hey, their Friend. As we come to the end of this series today, I want to ask you a question. What story are you telling yourself? Are you telling yourself a story that someday when you have lost X number of pounds, when you have changed your body in this way or that way, when you look like you want to look, that that is the day that you will be free, that you will feel joy, that you will feel peace, that is the glorious day. Is that the story you're telling yourself. Here's the truth about that story. That story will let you down if it doesn't disappoint you on the glorious day, which I've talked to hundreds of women who share the same thing over and over again, that they got on the scale, they saw that number that they wanted to see, they got in that size jeans that they wanted to wear, and it still didn't feel like enough. Like I've heard the story over and over again, Maybe maybe if that's not your story, maybe you'll have a moment or two, a month or two of celebration, but it doesn't last. It's not salvation. It can't last. That God designed our hearts so they would not be fully satisfied by any earthly accomplishment. And so if the story you're telling yourself is that you're gonna get to that glorious day, if you work hard enough, if you do all the things, you're gonna get to that glorious day. And that day is what's going to satisfy you, fulfill you. Like I said, bring that joy and peace. Friend, it's gonna let you down. But here's what you need to know. There is a glorious day coming in the future where you'll never feel that let down over your body not being good enough ever again. You know, I talk about this in my forty Day Body Image workbook. But a lot of people talk about that heaven is going to be amazing because we'll have glorified bodies and that it'll be about like having this quote unquote perfect body. And that's why we won't have body images us in heaven because we'll have this perfect, glorified body. But here's what I think is true. We won't to have body magicues in heaven, not because our bodies will be better or our bodies will be perfect. We won't have body of magicues in heaven because we won't be looking for any glory for ourselves. We'll only be there to glorify God and will recognize that he deserves all the glory. We will feel the fullness of His glory and not be wanting any of it for ourselves. That's what the difference will be. But here's the trick. We don't have to wait until we get to heaven to live that way. You see. The Easter story is that Jesus came to the earth. He's fully God. We came to the earth fully as man, lived a sinless, perfect life, but then was killed. He was murdered brutally to take on the punishment for our sins. He didn't commit any sins, but we've committed more than we can count, and he took on the weight of that punishment. You see, God is a just god, He's a holy God. There was a demand for a price to be paid in order for us to be reconciled with him, and Jesus paid that price for us so that we could be reconciled to the Father so that we could live free because we know, ultimately for eternity were his. But again, that doesn't just have to apply when we get to heaven. It's the concept of future grace. We live as if grace is only for the future, like I need my salvation when I die, but for right now, I need other things, like I need a better house and a better body, and a better husband and better behave children and more money. I know all of those things confuse us. They're all idols, really, but they also offer fake definitions, fake versions of salvation. And the truth is we can walk in grace now. We don't have to wait for future grace. We can live in present grace, understanding that every day I can wake up and say, because of what Jesus did for me, because he took on my punishment, because he died, and because he rose again, I am free. I no longer have to wear my sin and my shame. I no longer have to wonder if I'll be good enough for the only one who really matters, which is God. I'm not good enough for him. I can never be good enough for him. But through Jesus, he sees me as good enough for him. Jesus is my righteousness. I don't have to try to strive and earn my own righteousness. I have it because of Jesus. The Easter Story tells me that what I'm ultimately waiting for is so much more and different than weight loss. What I'm waiting for is the day when I no longer have to stress and worry and carry this burden of making my body my earthly, fallen aging, fading away body into something that it's not or maybe can never be that. Because of Jesus, I'm already accepted, I'm already loved, I'm already known, I'm already seen. God is not waiting for me to lose weight. The work has already been done, and I can live as someone who's been chosen. I can live as someone who's loved, and I can live as someone who is free. I can steward my body. I can work on health goals just like I work on managing my bank account or keeping my house clean. It does not have to be the priority of my life. I can stop waiting for weight loss and instead start living the full life that Jesus died to give me. Because I'm not waiting to have an acceptable body. I already do. And so, friend, it's time to change the narrative. It's time to stop telling yourself the story of someday I'll meet that glorious day and I'll be able to slide into that size six pair of genes, and that's going to be the glorious day. That's the day I'm living for. That's the day I'm hoping for. That's the day that's going to change everything. No, friend, you can already live in freedom because the day that changed everything already happened two thousand years ago. And that's the Easter Story. And that's the story. That's the gospel story that we have to tell ourselves each and every day. Friend, I've been on this journey for a long time. I don't wake up every morning and look in the mirror and say, Wow, I love these thick thighs. Wow, I love the way my arms shiggle like that's just ridiculous. That's body positivity, body love, ridiculous hocus pocusness. That's not what this is about. This is about sincerely knowing that I was created on purpose for God's purpose, and although my selfish ambition my purpose would be. I just want to look better. I just went a little glory for myself. I want people to see me and think, wow, she looks good. But that's all my selfish ambition. We have to lay that down and repeat the Gospel story to myself each and every day, no matter what I feel like, no matter what thoughts are brashing me, no matter what I'm believing. The truth is that Jesus died for me, and he took care of my biggest problem, the problem in my life that I could never take care of by myself, which was my sin problem. He took care of that, and therefore everything else in life just isn't as important as I want to make it. Because my biggest problem has been solved. I know for all of eternity I can live in God's presence and be with him. Instead of waking up in the morning and saying, ugh, this body. Someday, some glorious day, I'll have a body where I can wake up and be excited about it. We need to wake up in the morning and say, Okay, this is the body God's given me, and this is a glorious day because of what Jesus has already done. God tell me how to live today. Show me who you want me to love today, Show me how you want to grow me today. To sanctify me today. God lead me to the places you would have me go. Today. God remind me of how loved I am, how seen I am, how known I am, how accepted I am. Today we can live in the reality of those truths and quiet all the lies, quiet all the spirals, and no frinch. Scripture tells us Jesus is enough. He is, and friend, Oh goodness, I've lived as if it was Jesus plus right, the Jesus plus gospel. If I just had Jesus plus thirty pounds gone, If I had Jesus plus that better home, that better husband, those better kids, better bank account, better job, you name it, then I would be content. But that's a little bit of American Christianity or Western Christianity. Man. Scripture is clear, there's no Jesus plus. It's just Jesus, just Jesus. Friend. I hope you'll sit with that today, and I hope this Easter weekend that you'll feel encouraged. It's okay that you desire to lose weight, but make sure that that desire is properly ordered, and what I believe will happen is something amazing happens when we are spiritually healthy. So many years I spent just pursuing physical health, and I didn't really care about my spiritual health. I kind of frankly thought I already had the God Jesus answer, so check check. Now it's time to worry about the physical. But I was not spiritually healthy because I had and they were standing in my way of growing, of connecting with God. They were just there. They were false gods trying to lure me away from God's goal, from my life, from his truth. But once I got spiritually healthy, things started to change, and pursuing physical health feels different. It feels less like this quest to be okay, to be acceptable, this impatient rush to try to make myself okay so life will be okay. And it feels more like just a free stroll to pursue things that I know might physically make me feel better or that I might enjoy. The pressure is off, and that's what Easter speaks to our body image issues. It takes the pressure off front. It's a good story that God has written for your life. It's a redemption story. There might be a before and after. But it's not about weight loss. It's about who you were before you met Jesus and what he's done to change your life, to reconcile your life, to sanctify you, to make you look more like him. That's your after, and that's the after that will last. And that's the after that will have an impact on your friends, on your neighbors, on your family, on your children. That's the after that matters. Don't miss that after pursuing weight loss goals, or you'll miss You'll miss the big purpose. Right Scripture tells us, whoever loves his life will lose it. Are you looking for a life you'll love or are you looking to live loved and the life God has given you? That's my last challenge for you in the series. I'm so glad that you've been with us. Hopefully you've gotten to listen to all the episodes. If not, go back and listen to them at any time, consider sharing them with a friend, starting some healthy dialogues, some great conversations around this topic. Listen, you know at least five women who are trying to lose weight right now, I promise you you do. What would it look like to bring them together and start having real deeper conversations about how we pursue health without making it an idol, without making it the goal of our lives, without missing what God has for us to do here in this life. You know a great way to do that is by using my forty Day Body Image workbook. I would suggest first you go through the forty Day Body Image Work with our group. We start another group on Monday, right after Easter. It's called the forty Day Journey. You can learn all about it at improve body image dot com. Look for the forty Day Journey tab. It's fifty nine dollars. But go through it with our group first, and then consider getting a group of women together and talking about this stuff. Y'all. We need to call our sisters in Christ to a higher standard around body and food obsession. We're missing the point when you go to the mops group, where you go to the women's group and the only conversation is about our bodies. We're missing what we were made for. And I want to see that changed. Do you want to see it changed too? You know, I talked to so many women and they say, I just don't have anyone I can talk to about this because everyone I know is obsessed with their bodies, and I'm talking about the women at church. Here's how you change that. Invite them over, start a small group, start a discussion. You could use one of my other books I've had many women go through, Compared to Who or the comparison Free Life to start discussions around this. But start telling yourself a different story first, and then maybe those around you can be encouraged to do the same. Friend, I hope the series has blessed you. If it has, do you consider leaving a review, reaching out letting us know whether it compared to yout me is my address. We do offer coaching. If this series has stirred some things in you and you just want to talk with someone again, reach out whether it compared to you dot me all the informations on our website improvebodymange dot com. We would love to serve you in any way we can. Thanks for being a part of this special series. I pray you have an amazing Easter weekend, an amazing resurrection Sunday, and that the fact that Jesus is risen really does light you up and bring joy and satisfaction and rest in peace and all those things maybe you've been looking for from weight loss. I hope you feel them this Sunday as you celebrate what Jesus did for you on that cross. Hey, thanks for listening. Next week we start a brand new series on the show about the confusion of religious principles and dieting. So I think you'll enjoy that. I'll see you then, marrior to podcast. Is Cravity part of the Life Audio podcast Now and for more great Christian podcasts, go to lifeaudio dot com. MHM