About 3 months ago I saw a video of myself from many years back.  I was at least 35 or 40 pounds lighter.  I stared at the video and thought, “I can get back there again.”  So, starting the next day, I started thinking about myself as the guy in that video.  Seriously, I did.  I thought about becoming that lighter, previous version of myself.  I kept that image focused in my mind’s eye.  Now, I’m not one of these “see it happen first, and then it happens” kind of guys.  There’s an extreme there that just isn’t reality.  I can think some things all day long, but they just aren’t going to happen.  But, in this case, I kept that image in front of me.  Daily, I did not think of myself as this overweight, bloated new version of myself.  I didn’t beat myself up with the thoughts of “how did I get here”.  I didn’t live in a guilty frame of mind.  No, I just kept focused on that younger and leaner me.  I knew that I was that person.  The good news is that 3 months later, I’m down almost 25 pounds.  I’m not fully where I want to be, but I’m a whole lot closer than I was.

So, what does this have to do with Christianity?  Why am I blogging about this?  First, I’m proud of it :), but that’s honestly not my motivation.

Yesterday I was thinking about how all of this started with that video and that image.  How that propelled me through the changes.  Yes, I made diet changes.  I quit sodas altogether (cold turkey thank you very much).  I cut carbs out drastically.  But, I’ve done all of that before, but never sustained it.  The difference this time was an image of the me that I desired to be.  The me that had previously existed.

How many times have you beaten yourself up over a pet sin?  Maybe you’ve backslidden numerous times in your walk.  A thought that occurred to me this week was that I needed to change my Christian diet thinking.  We call it discipleship, or spiritual discipline.  Just as I failed in numerous diet attempts, I have failed in my spiritual discipline.  Why?  I have been focused on the “what I can’t do”, or the “what I can’t have”.  I stay focused on the guilty person I believe myself to be.

A minor shift can make a major difference.  Instead of focusing on how I’ve let God down, why not focus on “who I am in Christ”.  Why not focus on who I once was with Christ?  Maybe you can relate … maybe we should burn an image in our head of a time when our walk with God was really close.  Let that image be the driving force.  I can promise you from my Christian walk, and even from my dieting that guilt and shame will only motivate for a very short period of time.  That motivation will not last.

The Bible teaches us to “take every thought captive”, and I’ve always used that as a frontline defense when wrong thoughts enter my mind.  I begin combating immediately with “take this thought captive” … in my case I’m saying “think about something else, think about something else”.  I believe the verse does teach this, and this is a good habit.  But, what if it’s deeper?  What if it’s not just about passing impure thoughts?  What if it’s a deeper calling to “think rightly”.  In other words, quit thinking about ourselves as a fallen, obese, slothful, wretched, good-for-nothing that is fighting for holiness.  Instead, make a subtle switch.  Think about ourselves as the Child of the King we are.  Think about ourselves as seated at the right hand of the Father.  Think about ourselves in the moments in the past where our relationship was closest to God.

Our minds are very powerful.  Our bodies, our emotions, and even our will, will follow the direction of the mind.  Just as I thought about the skinny me, my goal now is to think about the holy me.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  Colossians 3:2