There you are again, staring at the person you consider your worst enemy. The longer you gaze, the longer their exposing gaze is reciprocated, analysing and even criticising. Few stare-downs are as difficult as the ones we have with the mirror, considering our weight. These humbling ‘mirror, mirror on the wall’ recollections present us with an opportunity to address a proverbial elephant in the room: how should we think about issues of body weight and food among Christians?
How should we think about the issue of body weight among Christians?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines obesity and overweight as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.” This definition says something about how dire the problem has become when obesity is a bigger threat to societal health than hunger.
Below, we’ll consider some of the sinful patterns that lie behind this obesity epidemic. But before we do that, it’s worth pointing out that medical reasons can also be a significant factor.
Medical Reasons
Many medical conditions can lead to individuals having limited control over their weight and, ultimately, obesity. These include diabetes, hypothyroidism, endometriosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome. This is part of life in our fallen, sin-cursed world (Genesis 3:17-19).
Medical conditions can lead to limited control over weight.
In these cases, believers must seek the best available medical care and manage their conditions to the best of their abilities. Furthermore, these exceptions should make us slower to attribute every overweight case to sin. Proverbs 18:3 warns of the folly associated with this haste. However, medical reasons aren’t always to blame for obesity and generally poor health.
Sinful Patterns
We can simplify the sinful patterns that lead to obesity into two general categories: poor stewardship and a lack of self-control. Let’s consider each in turn.
1. Poor Stewardship
Some people have not played as-active a role in the downward spiral of their health; or the uptick of their weight. Out of ignorance, many have simply inherited or developed bad habits around food and eating.
Many have simply inherited or developed bad habits around food and eating.
For example, Chimwemwe walked eight kilometres to and from school daily. She never needed to think about exercise because it was built into daily life. But then she got married, fell pregnant, became homebound, and gained considerable weight. Her new sedentary lifestyle in the home, combined with her slowed metabolism, meant that she only accumulated more and more weight with each additional child.
We might say Chimwemwe is a victim of education or lack thereof. She never knew better. No one warned her. But this doesn’t completely mitigate the guilt of her neglectful stewardship or its consequences for her health.
Of course, in some cases, this lack of knowledge is conflated with a lack of access to healthier food options or the finances to buy them. My intention for this post isn’t to browbeat the poor or the poorly educated. We always approach issues around weight and obesity with patience and care, offering a better way while recognising that it’s difficult to depart from lifelong training (Galatians 6:1; Proverbs 22:6).
2. Lack of Self-Control
Other people play a more active and intentional role in their poor health. Proverbs 23:20 lumps together heavy drinkers and gluttonous eaters of meat; unsurprisingly, insatiability around food and alcohol are two of the chief culprits of obesity.
Other people play a more active role in their poor health.
A glutton is a person who habitually fails to hold back in front of food, rarely saying no to another snack or that second, even third, serving. People like these need to be rebuked in love. Just as Paul instructed Titus to deal with the lazy, gluttonous Cretans, brothers and sisters in the Lord should not allow patterns of greed to go unchallenged in the church.
Hope in the Gospel
All who are guilty of the sin of lack of self-control, greed, or gluttony must submit to Christ’s lordship in this area of their lives and have the Holy Spirit begin to transform them. We must work hard to put away the sinful patterns of poor dietary practices, putting on God-glorifying behaviour when it comes to food (Colossians 3:5-14).
We must putt on God-glorifying behaviour when it comes to food.
Like the burden of consequences over past sin that all believers must carry, this does not mean one will miraculously have their weight disappear—as the false prophet Makandiwa of Zimbabwe would have you believe—that requires much more work.
What Do I Do With My Weight?
Medical reasons aside, being overweight can affect our witness. For it is the fruit most commonly associated with a lack of self-control. If your pastor carried so much weight that he always had to catch his breath getting up a flight of stairs, might that not bring questions about self-control to people’s minds? And if he cannot deny himself on the dining table, might there be other areas in which he is unrestrained?
We should strive to maintain healthy lifestyles suited to our individual circumstances.
As such, we should strive to maintain healthy lifestyles and the best physical form suited to our individual circumstances—including our history, body type, age, and life stage, among other factors. This will achieve much good, not to mention aiding our testimony before an unbelieving world. Christians looking to make a difference can adopt portion control, meal planning, exercise or increased activity, and accountability as practical steps.
To make a good judgment on obesity, the lover of Christ must discern whether their weight is the fruit of: present and ongoing sinful patterns; past sinful patterns that have been repented of; or other factors over which they presently have limited control.
Our Chief Desire
Just as obesity may result from a sin in one’s life, an obsessive desire to achieve a certain standard of beauty—which Solomon tells us is fleeting—could be indicative of idolatry that has taken root in the heart. The balance between striving for progress and struggling with contentment is a delicate one.
Our chief desire should be to conform to Christlikeness in our inward appetites and have it reflected in all areas of our lives outwardly for the sake of his glory.
