– Invitation to Weight on God –

"Glory to God in the highest" (Luke 2:14)

This past year God has been freeing me from my addiction to food – and by His grace I’ve lost 85 pounds.  (Praise God!)  Today I feel more free than ever in regard to food.  And as I head toward Christmas weighing less, God is inviting me to put more weight on Him.

I can hear you saying, “What in the world is she talking about?  After all, God can’t possibly wiegh more than He already does, can He?”

While it’s true that God is all-powerful, all knowing, and ever-present, we don’t often treat Him that way.  We often strip Him of His weighty-ness by acting as though He’s a light-weight.  We treat God as though He’s simply a nice guy, a good buddy, a sweet little baby in a manger.  But He’s so much more.

Our God has substance, presence, glory.  In fact, when we talk about the glory of God, we’re actually talking about the weighty-ness of God.  In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for glory is kabod, which literally means weight.

So in I Corinthians 10:31 when the Apostle Paul says, “whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God,” he’s inviting us to put more weight on God.  In reality, we don’t add to God’s weight or glory.  But by our words, our behaviors, and our lifestyle we reveal the glory of God.  Our lives point to the reality of who God is.

And just who is our God?  Our God is heavy (no, not in the 60’s-hip-lingo sense of the word).  Our God is the Creator, Provider, Healer, Rescuer, and Savior.  He’s the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end.  He’s the Author of life and the One who gives life meaning.  Our God has weight – He is a God of glory.

And this Christmas season, He’s inviting all of us to reveal His glory through our attitudes and actions.  For me personally, this means that I need to be careful about my relationship with food.  I need to keep a close check on my motives for how often I eat and how much I eat.  Rather than turning to food when I’m stressed or depressed, I need to turn to Christ.  Rather than running to the refrigerator when life throws me a curve ball, I need to run to God Himself.

As I stay humble and dependent on God in this specific area of my life, my attitudes and actions give glory to God.  My behaviors reveal the weighty-ness of this great God who continues to free me from being a food-aholic.

What about you?  Where in your life is God calling you to reveal the weight and glory of God?  What behavior or attitude do you need to surrender so that all you say and do become pointers to Him?  Take time today to listen for the Spirit of God showing you how He is inviting you to weight on Him.  Then we can all join with the angels by letting our lives sing, “Glory to God in the highest.” (Luke 2:14)