Last night, I watched a powerful movie, ‘The Hurricane’ featuring Denzel Washington. It’s based on the true story about a middle-weight boxer, Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter who was wrongfully convicted of triple murders and spent over 20 years in prison before having his conviction overturned in Supreme Court.
The part of the movie that caught my attention was how he purposed in his mind that he would not defile himself. He refused to hang out with the other inmates, he refused to smoke, watch ‘girly’ magazines, television or even eat prison food. He served his time by taking care of his temple and only reading books that would nourish his mind and his spirit.
I thought, wow! Now there’s a great example of what it means to be in the world but not of it.
As I watched the movie, it reminded me of the story of Daniel who was also taken from his home against his will yet also chose not to defile himself by taking on the traditions and mindsets and even foods of the foreign place which he found himself. Despite their circumstances both of these men continued to let their light shine and as a result were widely respected and admired.
So you might be thinking, what does this have to do with weight loss. The answer is everything!
We say that it’s impossible to eat healthy because there are too many temptations all around us. We live defeated lives because we feel powerless against all of these temptations around us. These two men were faced with temptations all around them, yet they overcame them.
So how did Rubin do it and how did Daniel do it? I think the Bible verse in Philippians 4:4 sums it up beautifully: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things” The answer is to change our thoughts. Change the way you think about yourself, your circumstances and your outlook on life, stop being so negative about everything.
We’re constantly focused on the wrong things. We focus on our current situation (our weight). We nurse and rehearse our plight to anyone who wants to hear and we constantly compare ourselves to others, which only serves to make us feel worse about ourselves.
Refuse to focus on what’s wrong with you and focus on who God is in your life. Fill you mind with the Word of God and start to put yourself on a steady diet of God’s Word. Let it fill you; let it be your nourishment; let it be your daily bread. Turn off the T.V. which only serves to remind you of what you are lacking ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His wisdom and take every negative thought captive and subject it to the Word of God. ( 2 Cor. 10:5)
It’s time that we begin to fight for what we want by renewing our mind with God’s truth and stop allowing all of the enemy’s lies to enter our minds.
After watching the movie, I made up my mind that I was going to radically decrease my consumption of television, the news and social media. Is anyone with me? Let’s reclaim the health of our body, mind and spirit by saturating our mind with the Word of God instead of all of the other garbage we feed it. This is the key to excellent health.
Please drop me a line if you feel convicted to also decrease you consumption of TV and social media AND spend more time filling your mind with God’s word.
