ARE YOU OVER-WEIGHT????

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Overweight defined:
• To give too much emphasis or consideration to something.
• To weigh something down with an excessive load.

In today’s society many people are consumed with weight lost and weight gain. They are so focused on food that it has become an idol. People target food as the culprit for their lack of spiritual discipline and self-control. They reason, “Oh, those snickers keep putting all this weight on me, I tell you they are no good for you.” In all actuality is the snicker bar really the problem or is it your lack of restraint in eating them. I am not advocating snack foods by any means; my point is the problem is not the food.
However, as you can see from the definition of overweight above, my focus in this blog will not be physical weight gain or lost, we can discuss that another day.
To give too much emphasis or consideration to something is considered to be overweight. When I first read this definition the first thing I thought about was someone worrying about something. Many times if we are not spiritually awake and alert in our day to day lives we can place undue emphasis on things, giving place to anxiety, fear, doubt, unbelief and things of that nature. We can become so bogged down with the weight of a situations (person, place or thing) that it consumes are mind, will, emotions and our physical body. In some people’s lives physical weight gain is a result or outflow of unhealthy spiritual weight gain. Stagnate dreams and dwarfed destinies can rob people of vigor and zeal. The enemy begins to frustrate their purpose causing a back-up of spiritual progress which results in spiritual and physical sluggishness. When people become idle they lose focus and begin to drift in the wrong direction. They begin to let old mind-sets and carnal behaviors creep back into their lives. Ungoverned feelings and emotions begin to dominate their spoken words and manipulate their choices. They become so spiritually overweight they can barely make it up the stairway of prayer and it hurts (easily offended) when anyone attempts to offer or exercise spiritual discipline( Godly correction) in their lives. When they look in the mirror of their own mind and imagination, not the mirror of God’s Word, they see a distorted picture of spiritual progress that they don’t truly possess. They see themselves mature when they are still acting like a child. They see through defective lenses so what they perceive to be spiritual growth is really not spiritual growth at all. The excess they see is carnal not spiritual.
Just like in the natural many times people who are obese do not see themselves as being that large. They have an image in their minds of the way they use to look, they begin to mentally block out the truth of their condition and state of health. They have become so accustomed to seeing themselves overweight that they reason with themselves saying, “50 more pounds is no big difference,” even though they have gone up 4 dress/pant sizes. That is self-deception. I know many of you are probably saying, Cathy, that’s not nice of you to say things like that about people, you may hurt someone’s feelings. Waking someone up to see that they are destroying their own life through a life-style of selfishness and self-deception is not mean, it is love. Being mean is to continue to see someone destroying themselves through various dysfunctional behaviors and vices and not stopping by and sitting them down to be a Good Samaritan, helping to save their life and destiny. But because people are more ruled by carnal feelings they become cowards and accomplices to shipwrecked lives and unfulfilled callings.
Being spiritually and physically overweight can be a burden to your entire system causing undue stress on the natural/spiritual body. Chose today to rid yourself of all the excess weight and baggage that is trying to abort your destiny and live with new focus, clear direction and Godly purpose. Shed those unwanted pounds and run your race to win!