Transform Your Body by Renewing Your Mind

We can never change what we tolerate.

That's a statement from a book by Joel Osteen, popular TV preacher, who mentioned it in the context of sinful behaviors. And one of the most sinful things we do is eat excessively.

Your suspicion that I'm about to unleash a litany of intolerable foods and eating behaviors is much too shallow. Below this outgrowth are roots of negative thoughts and damaging verbalizations.

Quit tolerating what you think of yourself and say inwardly or even audibly. It's probably making you fat and unhealthy

We understand the effects of a nutritional intake of chips, cookies, ice cream, candy, soda and donuts. But we fail to recognize that a great many of us feed our minds junk food.

Self-talk is important. The Bible says "to be transformed by ___________"

Do you know what goes on the blank?

Be transformed by . . . the renewing of your mind.

So what are you feeding your mind?

Don't talk about the way you are; talk about the way you want to be. Words have creative power. After all, God -- who "calls things that are not as though they were," (Romans 4:17) -- spoke the world into existence.

So, how do you take a thought? By saying!

Don't say what you don't want.

Without your mind in gear, any fitness effort is going to be like mowing weeds or painting over rust -- it will look good for only a little while.

Here is some more scripture to digest:

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings
forth good things or good words and an evil man out of the
evil treasure brings forth evil things." (Matthew 12:34b-35)

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21a)

"As he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7)

The antidote to negative thoughts and harmful muttering are the reverse --- positive thoughts and powerful declarations. At least three times a day, recite an affirmation. Make sure these are statements that reflect the reality of that which you desire --- realistically. Remember W. Clement Stone told us "what the mind can conceive the body can achieve."

Don't recite something inconceivable. And don't expect perfection.

Think in terms of progress; moving toward your goal.

"Every day I move forward and though I lapse occasionally, I learn from my mistakes and keep progressing."

That's conceivable -- right? It's inconceivable that you're never going to stumble. Remember that you either win or learn, but you never lose. You might even try a statement expressing such sentiment each morning:

"Today I win, or I learn, but I'll never lose because I'll never quit."

So, the chocolate chip cookies won today's battle, or the pie you were offered at a party looked too good to pass up? Baseball's greatest hitters strike out, fullbacks fumble, great golfers shank drives, and inventor's fail thousands of times. But the great ones apply what they've learned from failure.

You can too.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things," (Romans 4:17).