The Very Next Step You Take

When I’m at my lowest emotionally, even I don’t want to follow my own advice. I don’t want to “be made new in the attitude of [my] mind” (Ephesians 4:23), nor do I want to “put on [my] new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

What I want to do is cry. I want to withdraw. I want to be jealous that others don’t have my issues. I want to be mad at God for giving me this metabolism. And I want my very next choice to be high in calories, fried in fat, and iced with something that makes my taste buds sing.

I want victory, but I feel so weak.

This hardly sounds like someone who has conquered her food issues, right? The reality is, even when we stand on the scale and see our goal weight staring back at us, we’re always just one choice away from reversing all the progress we’ve made.

I’m not saying victory isn’t possible. It is. But victory isn’t a place we arrive at and then relax. Victory is when we pick something healthy over something not beneficial for us. And we do it again. And again. We maintain our victories with each next choice.

Here’s a biblical perspective from the apostle Paul:

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. (Romans 6:19 NIV 1984)

You see, the very next choice we make isn’t really about food, weight, or even the negative feelings we carry around when we’re choosing poorly. It’s about whether or not we’re positioning ourselves for holiness — to live the kind of God-honoring lives in which, by God’s strength, sustained discipline is possible.

So how does one tap into God’s strength? Certainly with prayer. Definitely through Bible reading. But there’s another part to it. We tap into God’s strength by practicing the gentle art of balance.

God’s holy people knew there was a time to feast, a time to fast, and a time for simple daily nourishment. That’s what it means to practice balance. If I understand balance, I will eat to live — not live to eat. I will enjoy nourishment, not gorge on empty calories. I will eat until satisfied, not eat to be satisfied. As Romans 6:19 says, I will make right choices that honor God and lead to holiness rather than constant indulgences that lead to defeat.

Whether the struggle is a food issue, a moral issue, an emotional issue, or a relationship issue, deep down you know when something is pulling your heart away from God. Deciding to live in a place of sustained discipline means making the choice not to view a struggle as an inevitable curse, but rather to see it as something good — something from which to learn and grow stronger. And, one good choice later, you will taste the empowerment of true balance and continue reaching forward from there.