Scripture reading for today: Matthew 17 – 18; Psalm 94
Yesterday I was watching television while trotting along on my treadmill. The news show featured a woman with a severe eating disorder. She looked skeletal and ghoulish–hardly human. She also looked crazy.
“When I look in the mirror, all I see is this fat roll,” she lamented. All the audience could see was her bone structure. A fat roll would have been a beautiful upgrade from the stick figure in front of us. I’ve seen meth addicts with more going for them.
I don’t mean to judge her; I’ve been there and done that myself. Eating disorders are lamentable. It’s a terrible thing to have an obsession in the mind constantly chattering away a litany of condemning thoughts and outright lies. This young woman is struggling with an ugly dependency. Her obsession with thinness is her way of seeking a satisfying life. I know that sounds like madness, but think about yourself: who or what are you depending on to provide you a satisfying life?
Dependencies: These are the people, places, and/or things that if we are brutally honest, we do not think we could live without. They are the things we cling to, even when clear evidence indicates they are not good for us and depending on this is not working. [1]
Instead of scrunching up our noses in disgust at this woman’s plight, what if we decided to ask God these questions: How am I living like her? What are my dependencies? What condemning thoughts and blatant lies am I believing?
Believing that any person, place, or thing can satisfy our every desire is insanity; it is also quite common. Step one is an invitation for us to set aside our expectations for self-satisfaction and to begin to get real about the source of eternal satisfaction.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within. Psalm 31:9-10 NLT