Don’t conform! TRANSFORM!!

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Recently, God has once again been reminding me how much He loves us, cares for us, and desires for us to walk in the fullness of what He purposed for each one of us.  And one thing we know for sure He purposed is Divine health and wellness, because He bought and paid for that with His precious blood and body at Calvary.

Each of us was uniquely created by God, for God.  He envisioned us before we were in our mother’s wombs.  He created us with our own distinct personalities, character traits, and strengths, and gave us individual gifts and talents to be used first and foremost to bring glory to Himself and to advance His Kingdom in this world.  We are to be reflections of Him and His values, His morals, and His standards.

In essence, as Christians, we are to represent Him and His Kingdom to the peoples of the world around us.  This includes in our health and wellness!  According to Romans 12:2, we are not to conform to the standards of this world.  We are not to be like the world’s people.  As God’s people, we are called to be set apart and to be different in order to make a difference.

How do we do that?  And what does that have to do with health coaching?  Quite a bit, actually!

There is no better time than right now to set aside a few moments to reflect on your life.

• What does my life look like?
• Do I look like the world? How?
• Am I following after the doctrines of man instead of the principles of God?
• In my journey towards better health, am I following after this “expert” and that in the place of seeking the counsel of The Great Physician?
• Am I going after and getting sucked in by the next new health craze, vitamin supplement, or diet recommendation instead of implementing God’s dietary plan for my well-being?
• Is my life so ruled by social media that I have a panic attack if I don’t check my phone or email every day? 🙂

After saying we are not to conform, Romans 12:2 goes on to say:  “but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing on Godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.”

So the “how” in the “how do we do that” is…we need to transform, not conform.  We need to change how we think and then as an extension how we act.  Doesn’t that sound like health coaching and behavior change?!

This is the basis of biblical health coaching:

Transformational change through the renewing of our minds

You may say…OK Michele.  I understand that.  But how do I transform and renew my mind?  How do I know what God’s values are?

Recently, I was reading through the Gospel of Mark.  Mark 4:24 (NIV) says, “‘Consider carefully what you hear,’ He [Jesus] continued.  ‘With the measure you use, it will be measured to you and even more.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.’”

As I read this, Holy Spirit asked me, “What does it mean to consider carefully what you hear?”  I’ve always understood it to mean I need to be careful of what I listen to, like the kind of music or TV shows.  He said, “That is true, but dig deeper.”  After a few minutes of contemplation, the light bulb went off.  The key is in the first 2 words:  consider carefully.

Consider….ponder on, reflect on, contemplate, study, ruminate…..

Carefully….cautiously, with deliberate intent, in a thorough, attentive, or painstaking way…

Aaah, the picture becomes clearer!  This certainly makes a difference in how we read this verse.

And then He directed me back to Mark 4:1-20 – the Parable of the Sower.  He asked:  “Do you see how they are one and the same?”

Wow!  I’ve never seen this before!  This parable is about seed being sown in different soil and the results.  In this parable, we know that the seed is the word of God.  We also know that we – our bodies and minds and hearts – are the soil.

What we do with the seed-word of God that we hear is an important discipline in the Christian’s life.

Let’s take that and combine it with “consider carefully.”  Jesus says we are not to ponder on the word thoughtlessly, nor rashly, nor hastily, nor inattentively, nor absent-mindedly or distractedly or half-heartedly.   He says we are to ruminate on the word of God like a cow chewing its cud to break it down and get the most nutrition out of it as possible.

How we chew on and work with the word – in other words, how we “measure” the word – determines the return on investment.  This is the same as the parable of the sower:  “Others, like the seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold.”  Hear….accept….produce.

How many of us really do this?  How many of us even read or listen to the word?  A survey from 2021 found dismal statistics.

According to Lifeway Research, “11% of Americans say they interact with their Bible daily, 5% do so 4 to 6 times a week, 9% connect with Scripture several times a week, 9% say once a week, 8% say once a month, and 8% say three to four times a year.  Another 8% say they engage with the Bible once or twice a year.  For around 3 in 10 Americans (29%), they say they never interact with Scripture.”

So, you may be asking, what does this have to do with health coaching and why does it matter?  As I said previously, more than you think.

Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge” – lack of knowledge of the Word of God and His laws.

An acronym for the word bible is

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

God’s word is like a seed – if we work with it, it will produce.  If we don’t work with it, it won’t produce.

People all over are struggling with weight, depression, anxiety, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stress…the list goes on.  Many are very sincere in their efforts to try and find a solution.  They search here and there, turning over this rock and that, going to this doctor and that, listening to this podcast and that with no real answers and no real change or relief.  I know.  Been there, done that.  Studies and articles constantly contradict one another.  Doctors misdiagnose or just want to put you on medications.  And some people are like the woman with the flow of blood in Luke Chapter 8 who have been suffering for years and “though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her.”  It was only when she risked it all and reached for Jesus that she was miraculously healed.

If we want to walk in the fullness of God’s blessings, if we want to apprehend that with Jesus bought and paid for us at Calvary, we have to do our part.  We have to go to the Source of Truth and see what He has to say about how we should live and start making that an active – and primary – component of our daily lives.

In Mt 6:33, Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God.  Here it is in the Ampl translation:  “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.”  God promises us if we seek Him and put Him first, over and above anyone else’s subjective opinion or view, He will not only give us the necessary things we need in life, but He will go over and above.

This means we should stop gulping up every fad and stop believing and accepting hook, line, and sinker everything everyone else is saying and start implementing what God tells us to do first.  If we do the former, it means we think the government or the insurance companies or big Pharma have our best interest at heart over to God. It’s time to challenge the status quo!

God’s word is full of blessings for us IF…

we learn it and put it into practice.

There are countless scriptures in the bible that relate to health and wellness.  Take for example, Proverbs 4:22 (MSG):  “Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice. Keep my message in plain view at all times. Concentrate! Learn it by heart! Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they’re bursting with health.”  See how beautifully this ties in with Mark 4 and consider carefully?!

I encourage you in this week to turn off the world for a bit and turn on God.  Find that dusty bible that hasn’t been opened in a while and sit down and read.  Read out loud to yourself.  Carefully consider what it is saying.  What direction is it giving you?  What instruction?  And then begin to apply what you are learning one step at a time, one day at a time.

To help you in this, over the course of the next few weeks – or for however long Holy Spirit directs – I’m going to do my health coaching part and bring forth “new treasures out of old.”  We’re going to start gleaning from the seed of God’s word and start planting that word in our hearts and minds – which means we have to work with it!  Planting takes effort and tools.  If we do our part, Holy Spirit will respond to our faith and actions and come and water the seeds we’ve sown to begin producing that Divine harvest of health and wellness in our lives that we all desire.

Read my post on Why Biblical Health Coaching is Important

If you are interested in learning more or need help in making and implementing lifestyle changes, contact me for a free discovery session to see if we are a fit.  You can learn more about me here.