Faith, Peace, And Weight Loss

[Rita Hancock]

A few years ago, I was doing a book signing at a Barnes&Noble in my home town, when I pitched my book to two ladies who were coming into the store. I soon discovered that neither was Christian. As soon as they saw the phrase “Christian weight loss” on my marketing material, they looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and, in a patronizing way, said, “What does religion have to do with weight loss?” They didn’t even make eye contact with me to get my answer. They just walked away, feeling superior over us dumb Christians, I guess.

Being a Christian, it can be hard to remember how non-Christians think. They don’t realize how our faith impacts our day-to-day activities. It affects how we think, how we feel, emotionally, how we spend money, how we treat other people, and even how we eat.

For me, the most beneficial side-effect of my faith is the emotional peace, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).You see, once upon a time, I believed lies about myself, like “I’m bad, it’s my fault, it’s my responsibility, I’m stupid,” etc. And those lies made me anxious and triggered me to snap at people and stress-eat. But, over time, God revealed how those thoughts were lies, and then He replaced those lies with truth that decreased my anxiety level and my tendency to stress-eat.

Feeling greater peace (because of God) improved my physical and emotional health and secondarily affected my diet. I guess that’s why Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”