Ever Feel Like Rebelling?

They claim to have our best interest in mind. We just want you to be happy, they say. . . . and then they give us a little advice.

Wouldn’t you be happier if you had a smaller piece of pie?

Wouldn’t you be happier if you went to the gym?

Wouldn’t you be happier if you lost weight?

Of course we’d be happier.

Long-term, anyway.

But we’re not thinking long-term. We’re thinking, wouldn’t a little ice cream taste good right now?

The ironic thing is that even though we may agree with our advice-givers—that we’d be happier if we lost weight—we start feeling rebellious the minute they bring it up.

Why don’t they just mind their own business, we think. Or we step it up a notch: If they really loved me, they wouldn’t be nagging me about my weight. They must not love me.

We respond to their words of wisdom in different ways, depending on our coping techniques.

Some of us withdraw from the relationship.

Some of us grab the nearest diet and do the people-pleasing routine.

And some of us rebel.

It’s the rebellers I want to talk to. Listen to my thought process and see if it sounds familiar:

No one has a right to tell me how to eat. I should be able to eat what I want, when I want. So quit telling me how to live my life.

Ever thought that?

What I’d like to do is take a rational look at those thoughts. Are they true? Should I be able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want? I’m thinking no.

But before you get mad at me, hear me out, because it has nothing to do with our advice-givers.

When I committed my life to God almost thirty years ago, I essentially said, I’m willing to give up everything to follow You.

I didn’t say “including food”-- and to be honest, I didn't know following God would be so drastic at the time -- but if I think about it, I have to say that food would be included in “everything.”

The truth is that it doesn’t matter what our advice-givers think, but it does matter what God thinks.

And He asks us to give up everything for Him.

Even food, when necessary.

If I look at life this way, I feel less rebellious about the boundaries. They’re no longer a set of rules that cramp my style.

Instead, they’re a way of saying yes to God.

Thought for the Day: Are you giving everything to God, or are you tempted to hold a few things back?