Can the Bible help with weight loss?

Can the Bible really help you with weight loss?

Is there a limit to what God’s word can help you with?

I believe Psalm 119:105 is one of many Bible verses that answers these questions.

Your word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path. –Psalm 119:105 NET

This verse doesn’t mention weight loss, junk food, or anything to do with eating habits or physical exercise. It’s a generic verse, but that is great news. There’s no limit to the work of God in our lives through His word. God’s word lights a path for every part of our lives. In fact, speaking of weight loss, Jesus said he is the bread of life and who doesn’t love bread.

I struggled with my weight starting in my late twenties and now coming up on 60, it’s still an area of my life that requires daily Bible study, prayer, and the mercies of God to help me. My weight loss journey has been filled with many highs and lows like so many other people. Maybe you can relate.

I’ve been an emotional eater for much of my life and I’ve used food as entertainment. Over time, it became an addiction that I have to continually battle.

Weight loss and maintaining good health are no different than any other area of our spiritual or physical well-being. A great place to start this conversation is by looking at how God sees us and why we exist. We are in fact God’s handiwork.

 31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
–1 Corinthians 10:31 NET

Right there it is. We were not created for our own glory. We were created to bring God glory. That’s our objective as Christians.

If you look at the Hebrew word doxa for our English word glory, it’s talking about the awesomeness of God, his excellence, and his place of highest status. It’s what our view of God should be.

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. –Colossians 3:17 NET

These two powerful scriptures give us a great starting place concerning our health. God sees us as so special that he chose imperfect men and women to bring him glory.

The Bible goes on to describe our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit.

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body. –1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NET

When you repent and accept Jesus as your savior, God’s spirit takes up residence in your body. He paid a high cost to rescue you. As you live your Christian life, you now represent God. God not only cares about your spiritual life, but he desires good things for every part of your life.

The next time you’re at work and they crack open those donuts, give some thought to these verses and ask whether inhaling those sugar and carb-filled donuts will bring glory to God. Think of yourself as the temple where God’s spirit lives and use this for your weight loss motivation.

This happened to me the day I started writing this blog. As I walked by a box of donuts at work the lust of the flesh kicked in and I was tempted. But, God promises to provide a way of escape when we are tempted. My mind immediately went to one of my favorite verses of all time in First Corinthians.

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. –1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

My way of escape was to keep walking. If I would have stopped to admire those delicious-looking donuts and allowed myself to think about how they would taste in my mouth, it would have been over.

I first learned this verse as a teenager when I was struggling with pornography and talked to my youth pastor about it. I don’t remember anything he told me except for this verse. Over 40 years later and I still remember the King James version of this verse by heart. It applies to so many areas of our lives including weight and health problems as the result of bad food choices.

A great example of this way of escape is found in another favorite verse of mine in Proverbs.

7 And I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths a young man who lacked sense. 8 He was passing by the street near her corner, making his way along the road to her house. 9 in the twilight, the evening, in the dark of the night. –Proverbs 7:7-9 NET

This foolish young man lost the battle as soon as he headed down the road toward the house of the harlot. By choice, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 She met him and appealed to his sinful nature and the lust of the flesh, and convinced him to come in and sleep with her while her husband was away. She made it all look, sound, and feel enticing.

Things of the flesh make unhealthy food or too much food look pleasing temporarily. In the end, you are left with regret for indulging in something not good for you.

22 Suddenly he was going after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare 23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life. –Proverbs 7:22-23 NET

Food can be just as tempting as the woman in this verse. The world makes it appealing. The more we eat, the more the world feeds us. Whether you suffer from emotional eating, bad food choices, or any of the other customs of this world, the end result may very well cost you your health and life. This is the way the law of sin works.

One of the easiest ways to combat a weight problem from bad eating habits and junk food is to stay as far away from it as possible. This is just one method of many you’ll use but planning ahead and walking the other way will help you make better food choices.

I read this passage of scripture often to remind myself to walk the other way and remember what will happen if I don’t. Walking away and making better choices requires discipline and self-control. This is the key to victory and freedom from anything in our lives that controls us.

Another key is planning ahead. There is a saying that you may have heard before that is a key to success in any endeavor.

“Plan your work and work your plan.”

There’s a verse in Proverbs that says this in another way.

The plans of the diligent lead only to plenty, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. –Proverbs 21:5 NET

When you are hasty and start your day without planning and preparing what you’re going to eat ahead of time, you’ve already lost the battle that day.

Part of this process is realizing how serious a food addiction is. I had to come to grips with the fact that I was a slave to food. 

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. –Galatians 5:1 NET

This verse isn’t specifically talking about weight loss, but the principle applies to our entire lives. Anything that controls us to the point of becoming a master in our lives, robs us of freedom. The likeness of sinful flesh robs us of the joy found in the things of the spirit.

I can’t tell you how many times I looked at myself in the mirror and hated the body image I saw looking back at me. I would tell myself the next day was going to be different, and I would change my eating habits and make healthy eating choices.

The next day my master would come knocking and I would be an obedient slave to my appetite once again. I tried numerous weight-loss diets, fads, pills, you name it. The problem is I wasn’t focusing on the core issues in my life. This is where the word of God made the difference. It’s not a matter of eating, it’s a matter of focusing on the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:22-25 are some powerful scriptures that provide a guide to how you should live your life. Meditating on these scriptures sets your mind on the life that is available through a relationship with Christ and the application of his word.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. –Galatians 5:22-25 NET

You are under no obligation to obey your flesh. In the middle of any addiction, you will feel out of control and hopeless to overcome it many times.

Galatians says IF you belong to Christ, you have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. The result is the fruits of the Spirit in your life. One of those fruits is self-control.

Self-control means you don’t have to follow the customs of this world. You’re a new person spiritually which now affects you emotionally and physically.

I remember when I gave up all sweets, both natural and artificial. I did this to retrain my brain to not desire sweets. The only sweets I eat are the fruit that God created for me to eat.

During Thanksgiving, my mom tried like crazy to get me to eat a homemade pie she made. She could not understand why I would not give in and eat some for just one day.

I asked her if I was an alcoholic would she try to get me to drink alcohol just because it was a holiday. For me, sugar is no different than drugs or alcohol so I have to treat it as such.

Memorizing and thinking about this passage from Galatians gives me the confidence to know my flesh is crucified and I have the fruits of the Spirit in my life, including self-control.

The key to applying God’s word to weight loss or anything successfully in your life is continually renewing your mind with the word of God.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. –Romans 12:1-2 NET

Your weight loss journey and striving for good health will always first be a battle of the mind. Bad eating habits start with bad thinking habits. Thoughts lead to actions. Control your thoughts, control your actions.

This is where the renewing of your mind comes into play. The word of God is full of wisdom from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is the spoken word of God captured in writing to speak wisdom for your life.

All things are possible with God. From my experience, when I’m in the right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else in my life is better.

He will give you the strength to accomplish more than you can think or ask. Put your focus on your relationship with God and all the other things will follow.

I’ll leave you with some more of my favorite verses to memorize and meditate on to help with not only your weight loss journey but everything else you will face in life.

24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. 25 Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
26 So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. 27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified. –1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NET

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. –Philippians 4:13 NKJV

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. –Hebrews 12:11 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. –Proverbs 3:5-6 NET