Made to Crave - Chapter 6: Growing Closer to God

I'm sharing the high points that I found in each chapter and then I answer the questions at the end of each chapter with my honest feelings. I'm reading the book on my Kindle, so I don't have page numbers for any of the thoughts I have taken from the book. This has been a journey that has spanned at least a decade for me. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm farther along than I used to be. Walk with me and feel free to share your thoughts. Be kind. Be blessed.

Each of the following points were taken straight from the book. No plagiarizing intended.

·        Growing closer to God has a whole lot less to do with any action we might take and a whole lot more to do with positioning our hearts towards His.

·        The posture isn’t standing with our hands up high or arms outstretched. The posture is the lowest possible position in which we can put ourselves with empty hands and eager hearts. In other words, communication with our intentions, our attitudes and even our body language that we are willing to deny ourselves.

·        “How do you grow close to God?” I answered, “By making the choice to deny ourselves something that is permissible but not beneficial. And making this intentional sacrifice for the sole purpose of growing closer to God. After all, Jesus Himself said, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’ [Luke 9:23].”

·        Yes, I want to lose weight. But this journey is so much more than just that. It really is about learning to tell myself no and learning to make wiser choices daily. And somehow becoming a woman of self-discipline honors God and helps me live the godly characteristic of self-control.

·        Before the apostle Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the churches in Galatia he describes a power available to us that goes way beyond self-control: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16, emphasis added). In other words, live with the willingness to walk away when the Holy Spirit nudges you and says, “that food choice is permissible but not beneficial – so don’t eat it.” Not sinful – please hear me out on this. Food isn’t sinful. But when food is what Satan holds up in front of us and says, “You’ll never be free from this battle. You will always bounce from feeling deprived when you’re dieting to feeling guilty when you’re splurging. Victory isn’t possible. You aren’t capable of self-control with food,” we must see that its inappropriate consummation can be his lure to draw our heart into a place of defeat. For others it will be sex outside marriage, the inappropriate consumption of alcohol, illegal drugs, or some other physical means.

·        How can we tune into these nudges of the Holy Spirit? How can we “live by the Spirit”? First, we have to know where the Spirit is and what He gives us.

·        Not only does the Spirit live in us, but He is active and infuses power to our lives that is beyond what we could possibly muster up on our own.

·        How do we live by this Spirit and heed His voice of wisdom and caution?

·        We read the Bible with the intention of putting into practice what we read while asking the Holy Spirit to direct us in knowing how to do this.

·        It’s not easy relying on the Holy Spirit to direct us into wise choices. It’s not easy to dare to actually live a life in which we put scripture to action. Especially scriptures about self-control. It’s not easy but it is possible.

·        We serve a compassionate God. A God who knew food would be a major stumbling block in our all-out pursuit of Him. Literally, issues with food can hold us back in our calling and our commitment to Christ. So, He’s given us great gifts in the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Bible to help us.

·        It’s about trying to use food to fill not only the physical void of our stomachs but also the spiritual void of our souls. Here’s the problem with that: Food can fill our stomachs but never our souls. Possessions can fill our houses but never our hearts. Sex can fill our nights but never our hunger for love. Children can fill our days but never our identities. Jesus wants us to know only He can fill us and truly satisfy us. He really wants us to know that. Only by being filled with authentic soul food from Jesus – following Him and telling others about Him – will our souls ever be truly satisfied.

·        For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18-19)

·        If we find that certain foods are impossible to walk away from – we can’t or won’t deny ourselves an unhealthy choice in order to make a healthier choice – then it’s a clue we are being ruled by this food on some level. Being ruled by something other than god diminishes our commitment and will make us feel increasingly distant from Him.

·        Thankfully, Paul’s words to the Philippians don’t end in verse 19. There’s good news: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)

·        I want His power to help me bring everything – everything – under His control. I want my lowly body to be transformed. I want to be in the process of becoming more and more like Jesus.

·        It reestablishes that God, not food, is who is in control of me. That helps keep me undivided in my commitment to Him.

Personal Reflections

1.      What is your response to the idea that we grow closer to God when we deny ourselves something that is permissible but not beneficial? I agree. Its not easy to do, but sometimes we give food or things too high a priority in our life, one that we should only give God.  Have you ever had an experience of denying yourself that helped you to grow closer to god? Yes! The first time I went through “the Lord’s Table” Do you believe this could be true for you in your battle with food? Yes! Certain foods definitely have a stronger pull on me.

2.      The apostle Paul lists self-control among the fruit of the Spirit. Are there areas of life in which you experience self-control and feel that your self-discipline and wise choices honor God? I’m am feeling that in the area of our finances as we’ve been using Dave Ramsey’s plan to help us eliminate debt for the past 15 months. For example, in your spending decisions or how you manage your time? What insights about your strengths in those areas might help you to honor God and grow in self-control with your food choices? If I can let God help me take control of my spending habits and see such amazing results, why wouldn’t he help me with my eating habits with the same amazing results?

3.      Have you ever had the experience of the Holy Spirit nudging you in connection with your food choices? yes If so, what was that like? Its like my conscience saying that “you don’t need that candy bar… a handful of almonds will be better… step away from the pop… you need a glass of water instead.” Just makes it easier to make a better choice. If not, how do you hope the Holy Spirit might help you now?

4.      As Christians, our calling – and our source of spiritual nourishment – is to do god’s will and finish His work (John 4:34). To what degree have consuming thoughts about food impacted your ability to pursue your calling and receive spiritual nourishment? It’s getting easier to pursue spiritual nourishment. I struggle when I’m upset to turn to prayer/scripture instead of food/drink… It’s probably because as a society we’ve been trained to want immediate comfort and food can change the direction of our thoughts so quickly…

5.      Would you say you are spiritually well fed, spiritually malnourished or somewhere in between? I feel like I’m somewhere in between. My personal study time has been improving, but in other areas I’m struggling to get what I need. Have you ever tried to use food to satisfy your feelings of spiritual hunger? I don’t know that I have eaten to specifically fill a spiritual hunger. I know I have for emotional reasons. What was the result? It was never satisfying. Either the food would be good, but the feelings would disappear soon after eating or the food would not be as good as I hoped and I’d feel guilt in addition to the emotion I was trying to avoid.

6.      If we find certain foods impossible to walk away from, this is a clue that we are being ruled by food on some level. Are there foods you can’t or won’t deny yourself in order to make a healthier choice? The one I am struggling the most to avoid is sugar. I’m doing better about not turning to the sugary stuff, but I haven’t ever felt the need to do a complete detox. Why are these foods especially important to you? The sad thing is that my body says I shouldn’t have sugar, to a degree… I have a yeast allergy, therefore my body craves sugars to feed the yeast. Sugar is in EVERYTHING in one form or another, so I just have to take it one meal at a time. One “better choice” at a time. What thoughts and feelings arise when you think about potentially giving them up? The thought of giving it up completely is overwhelming and scary. As I said, sugars are in everything. So far I haven’t felt God saying to cut them out completely. But I have cut back and work hard to make better choices.