Eating

This Sunday we're beginning a series of sermons on "Our Favorite Sins." This is based on research by the Barna Group... the result of surveys of people about their perceived sins. One of the "sins" people report is overeating. As we were discussing this, the subject of obesity came up... and I cringed.

People assume that everyone who is fat is an over-eater, or an emotional eater. People assume that people who are thin don't overeat. I just hope that the sermon doesn't villainize people who look different than our society's ideal, just because of our assumptions and judgments about their spiritual state, their health and their diet. You can't judge a book by its cover.

Take me, for example. I am fat, no doubt. I hesitate to use the word "overweight" because that implies that there is a "right weight" - and that is so subjective. I refuse to accept our society's standards for what is the right weight, the right way to look, the right size to be. I'll readily admit that sometimes I eat too much. But I don't eat any differently than smaller people around me. I strongly believe that the reason I am the size I am is because of the biological damage I've done to my body with yo-yo dieting. I refuse to diet again for this very reason.

So is it a sin to be fat? No. Sin is anything that separates me from God. If anything, living in our society with the stigma of being fat draws me closer to God. The sin related to food is trying to replace God with food... To replace the hole in your heart by filling the hole in your stomach. Sure, we all do that on occasion. But for me... that's not the source of my obesity. The source of my obesity is spending too many years listening to what other people said my body should look like. Enough of that. I've washed my hands of it. And I feel closer to God than ever... because I've finally accepted that He knows better than I do who He created me to be. "Bigness" and all.

Since I've stopped weighing my self-worth with a scale, I've maintained my size... something that has never happened to me before (I've always either been gaining or losing... never static). I have to make a conscious decision to be happy with who I am, regardless of size. If my size changes, it won't be because I tried to manipulate it... it will be because my body is regulating itself. And I strongly believe that that's how our Creator intended it to be.