“There’s no other way to say this”, a physician and nutritionist told his new patient, a recent divorcé, during an initial exam. “You need to lose weight. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are the causes of your high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels. Changing your eating habits, regular exercise, and getting with a therapist will help you shed pounds and lower both.”
A Verse a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Upon hearing his doctor’s recommendation, the irate patient retorted, “I don’t have a weight problem! I don’t need to see a therapist! God doesn’t look at the outward appearance. He looks at the heart! Anyway, the scripture says bodily exercise profits little, but godliness with contentment is great gain. The joy of the Lord is my strength!”
After a few more rounds of fighting the doctor’s “demonic attack” with the Word of God, the physician resigned himself to the fact that no matter what he said, his patient wouldn’t listen. He replied, “As long as you live in denial about what you’re going through, I can’t help you.” That biblically literate, defiant, and stubborn patient was me 11 years ago.
Embracing the End to Start Again
At that time, I was caught up in the emotional upheaval of my marriage ending in divorce. To cope, I gorged on physical and spiritual food to avoid reckoning with the abandonment and rejection I felt, hence my snarky responses to my physician.
Forward to the present and a healthier man, I look back on my medical visit with laughter and humility. My self-righteousness, naïveté, and pride brought more struggle with my weight and increased my anxiety. Once I acknowledged my problems and took appropriate action, my overall health and outlook drastically improved.
Biblical, Accountable, and Responsible
I used the Bible to gloss over glaring issues in my life. You could say I was so spiritually minded that I was no earthly good. My therapist, a brother in Christ and for whom I’m grateful to God, got a taste of what my physician experienced in some combative first sessions. He said to me that Christians are some of the most difficult people to counsel. He finds there’s a tendency among us to spiritualize everything and refuse to take responsibility. He said that over-spiritualizing is a radical commitment to escape reality.
There are throngs of fellow believers living this way:
An unemployed person can use texts about God’s provision and the love of money to justify laziness.
A spouse enduring physical abuse may choose to remain in the home because they believe they’re suffering for Jesus and walking in His footsteps.
A person hesitant to love again can lean on teachings of wholeness in Christ to evade analyzing patterns when choosing someone, dealing with rejection, and grieving.
Parents who are emotionally avoidant and afraid to connect with their children gravitate toward passages emphasizing faith, toughness, and resilience.
For the latter, God is teaching me there are times when my daughter doesn’t need scripture. Instead of a Bible verse, she needs me to be a living epistle, a safe place to voice her thoughts and emotions. As I help carry her burdens, her load gets lighter. That’s what my heavenly Father does for me.
Running to See Heaven in the Real World
Being realistic doesn’t deny God’s power. It confirms we need His strength to confront our challenges head-on to overcome them. Romans 8:37 says, “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.“
Over-spiritualizing is a weight we have to jettison to emerge from the abyss of denialism. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.“
Onward towards the real world where God longs to meet us.
Scripture references are from the New Living Translation. Their links go to bible.com, courtesy of YouVersion, makers of the Bible App available for iOS and Android devices.
