Before you make any 2021 resolutions or choose a new diet and exercise plan, it’s important to consider the details of 2020 that contributed to any weight gain and to envision what’s ahead in 2021 that might continue to be a threat to how you eat. In other words, weight, diet, and exercise comprise only one component of your health and cannot be separated from circumstances and your holistic well-being.

Getting Started

A first, relevant step is willingness to bring God into your physical health goals. The idea of spiritualizing one’s eating and exercise is often criticized and dismissed by various unhelpful influences, but only to the detriment of Christians. You don’t want to miss out on divine power and connection to the living God in any area where you need Him. (1 Tim. 6:17; Heb. 13:18)

Know Your Story

In the safe presence of the Lord, investigate where your eating habits originated. Consider journaling or talking out with a mentor questions such as:

• When and where was I when stress made me vulnerable to wrecking my physical health in 2020?
• How often was I prone to eating out of boredom or anxiety?
• What fears, sorrows, and unmet needs surfaced in my eating choices?
• What roles do control and freedom play in what I eat?
• Which bad habits thought I brought into 2020 became even worse?
• To what degree did laziness impact how poorly I ate and failed to exercise this past year?
• What lies did I believe about my circumstances, preventing me from seeing Christ at work in my life?

Deal Properly With Guilt

Some of it is your fault, and some of it isn’t.

• You’ll feel much better once you confess the ways you blew it. But then stop and receive His forgiveness. Don’t let your confession turn to self-condemnation. (Rom. 8:1, 1 Jn. 1:9)
• Identify the ways you were set up to fail, and receive His grace to initiate new pathways to succeed. Determine to disengage from past patterns that didn’t work.
• Think about the times when you’ve consumed food and drink and your soul felt just as empty and full of cravings as before eating. (Is. 29:8)
• Refute the argument that you’ll feel deprived, and practice trusting Him to meet your needs.
• Don’t follow trends, and don’t expect a common formula to work. What works for another person may not work for you and vice versa. It’s not a weakness if you don’t gain the outcome from running or CrossFit that another person does. Find the exercise that your mind and body responds best to based on your stature, DNA, and interests. Likewise, you have the freedom to enjoy a manner of eating that brings Him most glory because He reveals it to you and then enables it. Don’t compare yourself to how others eat or work out; find the program that works best for you by His help.
• Remember the times you’ve been successful in the past. Think less about your shortcomings and failures, and more about what He did before and can do again.

Discover Spiritual Disciplines

The sacrifice and focus needed for any spiritual discipline leads to blessing and spiritual health. For example, when you commit to a time to pray and let the Word of God deal with you, it grows your faith, produces fruit in you, and steadies your mood. Imagine the results you might have if you applied sacrifice and focus to your physical state as well. Some ideas include:

• Research the concept of spiritual disciplines. One favored book is: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. Or for an article that provides a quick overview of spiritual disciplines click here.

• Check to see if you have unhealed eating patterns by reading this mini book: Help! I’m a Slave to Food by Shannon Kay McCoy. Or you can look up the October 4^th, 2020 podcast interview with her on the “Hope + Help Podcast,” hosted by Christine Chappell.

• You could make “gratitude” your word of 2021, and view food and drink as direct gifts from God to help you better steward each bite or each sip. Consider being orderly about the time, place, and atmosphere for your meals, rather than engaging in mindless or hurried food and drink consumption. (Eph. 5:20)
• Use a missional mindset to connect what you eat by thinking of and praying for others around the world who are less fortunate. Or you could cut back on certain food items of your choice to have more money to give toward causes important to you. Donations to trustworthy organizations can accomplish just as much, if not more than, reposting social media posts that promote certain opinions.
• Incorporate pursuing a healthy weight, eating plan, and exercise routine with your prayers and Scripture readings. Make your devotional time not about checking a box, but about the relational, holy impact on your weary heart, mind, and spirit so you can live out each day, in every detail of your life (including how you eat and work out) in obedience and satisfaction. (Ps. 59:16)

Blessing & Prayer

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4)