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Because I don’t provide medical advice, I always recommend that before any health initiatives, the person checks with their doctor. I say this because what comes next is something that Lucia and I do; it’s our plan, not yours. I would not presume to tell you what to do about your health. Each person must seek the Lord, trusted friends, and the medical community to figure out what best suits them in their journey to present their bodies as a testimony to the radicality of the gospel.
Additionally, my advice moves beyond the superficial by addressing the heart repentance that must come first. My heart struggles will differ from yours. Most health-related resources that folks rave about are the ones that suggest diets, tips, tricks, best practices, smart food choices, and habit changes. I’m not knocking those things because they do help, but you rarely see programs that discuss the underlying causes of why the person was unhealthy or overweight in the first place.
I’m speaking of repentance, that unspoken non sequitur that we do not usually connect to the deeper and even more challenging struggles of the soul. Of course, throw in the fact that health-related problems are too personal. Body problems fit better in the pantheon of unmentionables like religion and politics, things we don’t discuss in polite society, even though we know that the formerly cherished polite society left the station a few decades ago. Regardless, too many of us still don’t want to talk about what is wrong with us. My hesitancy about weight loss, healthy eating, and exercise is because I don’t want to share my sin list with you—the underlying matters of the heart that create my more oversized, more visible issues. Though I want to live a life of integrity with you and before the Lord, drawing back and hiding parts of my life from the community is a source of temptation. The irony, as well as the deception, is that I can’t conceal my physicality from anyone.
But when he came to himself (Luke 15:17).
A few years ago, Lucia and I began a process of repenting of the poor fitness patterns in our lives by sculpting out a practical and workable plan for objective, measurable transformation. The first step in our plan was the most demanding and challenging of the three stages; it was a not-so-simple process to submit our lives to the Lord while holding each other accountable. Here is what we did.
Step #1: Repentance will determine the quality of your health. You will only reach your goals if you get this first step right. Genuine repentance is not primarily about a plan but about our hearts. There are thousands of weight loss plans in the marketplace. The cultural gurus give us their ideas, but there is only one way to repent: it is a gift from God (2 Timothy 2:24-25). I have tried different plans and programs offered by health advocates. Most worked to some degree, but none hit the target because they were all various forms of behavioral modification. Those plans give you a methodology that focuses on what you can see in the physical world, but they do not target what you cannot see, which is in our hearts—the spiritual person. Though there are practical necessities to losing weight, the more pressing matter is internal transformation.
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Putting off bad food and putting on better food does not change what is wrong inside of us, spiritually speaking. Therefore, our goals must be more than looking good on the outside. We must discern and work on what the Lord values. God discerns and treasures our hearts (1 Samuel 16:17; Matthew 23:27). Our primary goal must be more about the Lord’s preference for body image instead of cultural pressures. We are on the right path if we start with the heart, which begs the question: repent of what?
Thinking about our souls brings us to the most vital thing when considering the repentance construct: What are the hidden idolatries of our hearts? When I thought about these things, I began writing down those idolatries that tempted me to stay the way I am. Here is my sin list; though it’s not exhaustive, it was helpful to bring me to the place where I had to decide if I would live in a self-imposed delusional stupor full of misdirections and rationalizations or honestly cry out to God for help.
| Comfort | Anxiety | Fear |
| Self-reliance | Deceit | Lack of Self-control |
| Worry | Arrogance | Unbelief |
| Lack of Sympathy | Discouragement | Hypocrisy |
| Blindness | Self-righteous | Laziness |
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).
Those hidden idolatries worked together for evil as a sinful constellation that kept me in bondage to poor health. Rather than tackling them all at once, I commenced with one at a time. I chose hypocrisy, as it seemed like a good starting point for the change process. It is hypocritical for me to counsel, disciple, train, or teach other people how to gain victory in any area of their lives when I am not trying to secure victory in a particular area of my life. In my case, poor health choices manifested primarily as overeating, eating the wrong foods, and not exercising.
Hypocrisy is a form of rationalization that stratifies sin by saying, “My sin is not as bad as your sin.” Even though the consequences of sin can be different, it is intellectually dishonest to think my sin is of lesser importance to the Lord (James 2:1). Any sin is enough for Christ to die on the cross. I needed to address my heart sufficiently before engaging the gay guy, the angry guy, the addicted guy, the adulterer, or the victim-centered spouse. I asked the Lord to search my heart, which meant it was time for me to be honest with God, myself, and others (Psalm 139:23-24). Taking the log from my eye first was a better move than intellectually dishonest, spiritualized acrobatics that made me feel superior to others.
I could no longer ignore how my poor health choices were feeding my idolatries, a process that led to another question: “When would I indeed come to the end of myself regarding my health?” No longer could I shuffle my sin inside my head while trying to feel better about myself. It was time to take my soul to task, which meant examining how my heart sins led to behavioral sins. As I work through my list with you, let me explain the connection between heart sins that create personal and relational frustrations.
Owning these moving parts in my heart motivated me to do something about it. What about you? Though your sin list may differ from mine, you must deal with the ruling motives of your heart because whatever they are, they rule you—for good or evil. If you are willing to take your soul to task by being honest with yourself and God, you can move on to the next step to better health. But first, I want you to answer a few questions.
Step #2: I told my family what was happening and informed them of my progress. I did not wait for them to ask me. It would help if you held others accountable for holding you accountable. Too often, a person blames friends for not being effective accountability partners. Their complaint may have some truth, but it should not stop you from leading them by being honest, transparent, and forthright about what God is doing in your life and demanding they hold you accountable. Nobody but the Lord will love you how you need to be loved, so you must lead others in loving you well. Be their example. Lead them. Teach them how to take care of you.
Step #3: Determine what you will eat. You must insert your personal, doable, practical plan in this step. Your customized plan means you must research and write a proper program. The method you decide to implement will be the core of your program. You and your community must determine what kinds of food you will eat and how much of what food you will eat. Better health happens in a community. Only you, the Lord, your friends, and your medical community can speak to this critical step. The hardest part is what you are doing now—being honest about the true nature of your body and soul.
Finally, to reiterate, we do not provide medical advice. Please consult your trusted medical community for their perspectives, advice, and recommended paths forward before you take any action that alters your health.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).
