Originally posted by Sozo
A recent email sent to me that I found interesting...
I used to be very much into vitamins and herbs and eating
right (still am), because I would try anything to get rid
of depression and anxiety attacks. I even sold some herbal
products for weight loss at one point. The way the products
worked, was by giving your body the exact nutrition it
needed. When your body gets what it needs, you do not get
hungry all the time, you don't eat as much, and you lose weight.
If you eat junk food, your body will not get what it needs,
and it will retain fat because it thinks it's starving. Same
with water. Many women suffer from water retention simply
because they do not drink enough water. Sounds crazy right?
I believe the human psyche works the same way. Our hearts
long for unconditional love - something that we all need but
seldom get. So we get into dysfunctional relationships, we
remain unsuccessful in life or even become workaholics. We
fill our lives with material things and people trying to
give our heart what it longs for, only to end up more empty,
and more mentally unhealthy.
One thing that the Gospel creates is a sound mind. It creates
a balance in the emotions, because without the knowledge of God's
love towards us in Christ, we remain unstable. We've all heard
sermons of people sitting in church and getting spiritually fat -
and no wonder! With the spiritual junk food we've been getting
in church, of course we got fat! Then they told us that witnessing
and evangelizing would work off some of that "spiritual fat", but
we just couldn't hardly get up enough nerve to talk to people about
Christ - the same way someone who eats junk food can't get up
enough energy to exercise!
When you eat healthy, your body craves exercise because it's
full of energy. You get up in the morning early like a 5 year
old wants to so he can watch Scooby Doo. Did you know if you
eat the right foods you can eat all you want? We have 3 basic
needs as human beings: Air, water, and food. Ever hear of
someone breathing too much? How about drinking too much water?
Overweight people don't eat too much, they just eat the wrong thing.
The awesome thing about the Gospel of Grace is: you can hear it
all you want! You can flood your mind with it! It's okay! You
can never get "spiritually fat" off of it! You can renew your
mind to it from now until Jesus takes you home, and you'll just
get more and more mentally healthy. Who knows? You may even have
enough grace and love to give out to other people too, once you've
satisfied your OWN heart's desire with the knowledge of the Son
of God.
When I first heard the Gospel, I got so excited I could barely
sleep for two weeks. If anyone needed this message, it was me.
I would lay awake at night just thinking about it. It was like
someone was pouring oil and wine on my bruised emotions. My
depression and anxiety disappeared in a matter of weeks. At first,
my mind fought it, but my heart won over my mind. The same thing
happens when you eat healthy. If you're used to eating pizza
every other night, your taste buds don't want collard greens.
But once you start to put it into your body, you will feel SO good!
Your body will start to work the way it was designed.
Let's not give itching ears what they want anymore - let's give
them what they need: The message that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself, not counting men's sins against them.
EAT UP!
