[Kelli]

Week 1 Day 1
The Commandments of Men

Day ______________________________ Date ______________________________


Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10
That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient time before us.


God used regular men in regular situations to write His Word. He used their personalities, writing styles, surroundings, and individual circumstances to write His Word without error (2 Peter 1:21). Even though I live thousands of years later, I have often found myself in similar circumstances to the men and women of the Bible. The Bible is still so relevant for today, because society has always had the same basic motivators. People have always had to live together, and there have always been social ranks of importance.

For instance, in Jesus’ time, Jewish society considered the Pharisees to be the top of the social-class ladder. People looked upon them as the ultimate authority on all things proper. They were the last word on dietary laws, social graces, and good manners. People relied on the Pharisees and other religious leaders to tell them what to wear, what was beautiful, what to eat, and even what they should think. They followed numerous religious and dietary “traditions” that had nothing to do with the Laws of God. In their day, the Pharisees and religious leaders were like our celebrities and media personalities are today. We rely on them to tell us what to wear, what is beautiful, what to eat, and what we should think. Because they are on television or in print, we think they are the authority.

This mindset has contributed to the over-the-top health hysteria we now face. Paul Campos writes in his book, The Obesity Myth (Renamed The Diet Myth in 2005), “The weight-loss industry exploits cultural anxieties about fat to sell its customers products that don’t work, over-and-over again, by convincing those customers that it is they who are defective. The failure of these products is ascribed to the moral weakness of those who purchase them, thus allowing the cycle to go on indefinitely. ” Campos also writes, “Not only do the obesity researchers depend on the diet industry to fund the bulk of their expenses, but many of these same researchers have direct financial relationships with the companies whose products they are evaluating. ” “The things that many Americans worship today --- ‘health,’ ‘fitness,’ ‘a perpetually-youthful body’ --- have become so closely associated with staying or becoming thin that, for all practical purposes, what such people worship is a god of perpetual-slenderness. ”


Even this secular lawyer, and writer, recognizes that we have made being slim a god.


From the beginning of time, people have judged and classified one another by how rich, smart, religious, or beautiful they are; with beauty being at the top of the list. When society sees a person who is morbidly obese, they automatically assume that he or she is weak in character; and their judgment of another’s character climbs in relation to how thin he or she is.


The Bible says in Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.


Write the preceding Scripture in your own words. ______________________________

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I hate to admit it, but losing my status as a thin person was one of the predominate reasons why I wanted to lose weight so badly. I felt that being overweight placed me beneath my thinner peers. Sure, I wanted to be healthy, but the overriding desire was to be elevated to what I considered a higher social position.

Be honest and think about this question: Why is being thin important to you?

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Explain your answer. __________________________________________________ __

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Class distinction is the social boundary by which the population divides itself. I found that I, myself, was actually guilty of dividing people into different classes when I caught myself vaguely categorizing people in the grocery store. If I saw a man with a thin woman, I thought, “I bet he’s glad he chose wisely, because his wife didn’t get fat.” I had no clue who these people were, or whether she was an awful wife who made her husband’s life miserable. I dressed-up the desire to be thin, and I told myself it was for righteous reasons; that I wanted to be healthy so I could serve God better. However, subconsciously, the primary reason that I wanted to lose weight was to be thin and elevate my social status. I wanted to be the person that society told me I should be, forgetting what the Bible says about being humble. The world has always changed vices into virtues. I dressed-up vanity, and I changed its name to physical fitness. I totally bought into the lie; but deep down, when I finally got real with myself, the desire to be thin was all about what I looked like.

I thought that being overweight not only made me inferior, but it also lowered the social- class of my family. I had to force myself to go to school functions with my kids. Although my husband always seemed proud of me, I agonized over going anywhere with him where we would be seen by his coworkers and peers. My husband has always been handsome; and in my mind, that automatically stepped him up a notch in class. I thought that they would judge him, and demote him to a lower class, because of my weight.

I know it’s wrong, and God has been working in my heart for years, but I still fight the feelings of inferiority. And to be honest, I have to admit that if I classify myself, I also subconsciously classify others.


James 4:2-6 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”


I used to dream about being thin. I thought that if I was thin, I would be happy; and thoughts of being thin consumed me. I was so disgusted with the way my body looked; as a result, dieting and food filled almost all of my thoughts.

Do you think that if you suddenly woke up skinny, you would be happy and fulfilled and finally at peace with yourself? ________________

Explain your answer. __________________________________________________ __

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Being thin will not make you happy. You will still have the anxiety that you have always had about your weight; however, instead of worrying about being overweight, you will be anxious about gaining it back. We have relied on the so-called dieting experts for too long, but they are no different from the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They convinced God’s people to spend vast amounts of money keeping up appearances, and made them obsessed about dietary laws. Diets do nothing to change the heart, and that’s where the real problem lies. It’s not about changing your food. It’s about understanding, and fixing, the reasons why you overeat; and changing your wrong thinking into right thinking.

Some of the Pharisees came to Jesus, and they were annoyed that He and His disciples were not practicing the traditions that consumed their religion.


Mark 7:1-9 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” 6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men --- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” 9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”


Mark 7:14-23 When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

17 When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” 20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”


I used to be so engrossed with what I looked like, I made being thin an idol. When I finally came to the realization that I was idolizing thinness, I was still confused because God had told me earlier that overeating and lusting after food was making food an idol, so which was it? Was the dieting a sin, or was the overeating a sin? I kept asking God for the answer, and I didn’t get it for over a year. I asked my Christian friends, and I asked my Bible study group. I just could not get my answer. When God did answer, it was so simple that I wondered why it was so hard for me to get.

One night after dinner, I was upset about one thing or the other, and I reached into the refrigerator to grab a piece of pie. I thought, “I’m not hungry, I shouldn’t eat this.” I immediately told myself, “I am not supposed to diet or worry about what I eat!” Then I thought, “But I am running to food for comfort and making it my god!” I prayed, “God, which is it? Please tell me.” After asking for so long, a still, small voice unexpectedly said, “It’s not either/or … it’s AND.” Now it may be hard for you to understand, and you might not get it because the answer is so simple. You might just say, “Well, DUH, I knew that!” But I had a serious struggle trying to figure this out. When God said, “It’s not either/or … it’s AND,” I knew exactly what He was saying.

Running to food for emotional support is idol worship, AND habitual yo-yo dieting and obsession about being thin is also idol worship.

Do you think that you run to food for emotional support? ______________________

Do you think that you are a habitual yo-yo dieter? ______________________


1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.


I need to be sure that the Spirit I am following is God’s, and not one of the enemy’s.

What is your goal weight? ________________

What is the purpose for choosing that weight as your goal? ____________________

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I am guessing that at least part of your answer has something to do with being healthy.
Reread 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

For years, I believed the hype from the diet-industry, which declared, “The thinner you are the healthier you are.” However, that is not necessarily correct, even if you try to tell people the truth and have the statistics to back it up.

The notion is so wrong that being very thin is the healthiest, as long as a person isn’t anorexic. Our standard of what is a normal weight has become so thin that those who are an “Average” size are considered overweight. Even our own Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend a “Normal” BMI (Body-Mass-Index) of 18.5 – 24.9. The proven truth, however, is that most of the people who consider themselves to be overweight are not. Being just .5 below the “Normal” BMI is just as dangerous as being morbidly “Obese” (over 100 pounds above “Normal” BMI). Most epidemiological studies show that “Overweight” people do better than “Underweight” people do. What we rarely hear is that plenty of studies (including the CDCs latest) show that they also do better than so-called “Normal” weight people; especially among older people. However, I’ve heard a lot of rationalizations that try to disguise that fact.


Many of those assumptions start with the idea that it can’t be true that normal-weight people are in as much, or more, danger than fat people. They begin with that assumption, and then they twist the numbers or create unrealistic theories why the data doesn’t say what they think it should. They end up suggesting ridiculous ideas; like all obese people must be dead by age fifty. There is so much evidence that shows that being a little chubby is healthier, especially for a person who is over fifty; so it seems to me that any doctors who are still recommending weight-loss are being reckless with their patients’ lives.

There are MANY studies done that prove that being a little “chubby” can protect you from cardiac events! You don’t ever hear about those studies, though, because they are funded by the pharmaceutical and weight-loss industries! I feel like I have wasted so many years trying to fit into the “Ideal” weight-group, when I am the ideal HEALTHY weight; just not according to Hollywood’s ideal. The government, and the authorities (Pharisees), say what everybody wants them to say; and they give no thought for the safety of the millions of people they are supposed to protect! The pharmaceutical and weight-loss industries continue to blame the failure of their products on the weak characters of their customers.

I am not saying that a person should be obese, or even in the “Obese” category of the BMI scale. I am saying, however, that the drive to be skinnier than what is healthy has created the compulsion to overeat. I have interviewed numerous naturally-thin people (by naturally-thin, I mean they don’t have any of the markers for anorexia), and not one of them has ever been a chronic dieter! They may have tried one or two diets, but they don’t make it a lifestyle. However, a few of them have been smokers. I am convinced that the struggle to stay thin is what is making us fat! If I am told that I can’t have a drink of water, I immediately want a big glass of water. If a diet says that I can’t have chocolate, that’s what I want! If they tell me I can’t ever have it again, I fail and eat a bunch of it, because I am afraid that I will never get to eat it again. People and animals naturally gain a few pounds as they age, but it’s the chronic dieting that creates the obsession; and we don’t just become a little heavier, but we end up obese.

For years, I could not understand why I had such a hard time losing weight. I was praying constantly, and as far as running to God with my weaknesses, I felt like I was doing everything right! I had studied many years to try to find the answer as to why I couldn’t get to the “Normal” weight. I finally realized that God did answer my prayers to be healthy. I kept telling Him, “I just want to be healthy!”

I don’t need to listen to the Pharisees of this age who have their dietary laws and commerce in my temple. They have sold me enough pigeons and what they consider “clean” sacrifices (Matthew 21:12) … I am done with that. Instead, I will go to my Lord, and I will have Him clean my temple the way that He wants it cleaned.

During World War 2, 36 young men participated in an experiment conducted by Dr. Ancel Benjamin Keys. The experiment measured the effects of starvation on the men. The participants were subjected to a very low calorie diet for a period of six months. It was observed that one of the most disturbing effects of such a low calorie diet was that food became an obsession for the men. Robert Willoughby commented on the strange practices that the men developed for eating the little bit of food they were allowed. He observed that eating became a ritual, and some of the men became fascinated with cookbooks; others would eat slowly, savoring every bite. Another of the participants, Harold Blickenstaff, talked about how aggravating it was to constantly be thinking about food. He said, “I don’t know many other things in my life that I looked forward to being over more than this experiment. It wasn’t so much the physical discomfort, but it was because it made the food the most important thing in one’s life … food became the central, and only, real thing in one’s life. And life is pretty dull if that’s the only thing that you’re thinking about. I mean, even if you went to a movie, you wouldn’t be particularly interested in the love scenes, but you would notice every time they ate and what they ate.”


Romans 7:8-12 (The Message) Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. WITHOUT ALL THE PARAPHERNALIA OF THE LAW CODE, SIN LOOKED PRETTY DULL AND LIFELESS, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.
Food is such a tough thing to be in bondage to because we have to eat or we will die. However, when we restrict certain foods because we want to be thin and are idolizing thinness, it causes the compulsion to overeat. Have you ever had a procedure done, and the doctor said that you had to restrict water for a certain period? Suddenly, your mouth dries up, and all you can think about is getting a nice, cold glass of water. The same thing happens when you tell yourself that you can never have another hamburger or candy bar; that’s all you can think about, and nothing else will satisfy you.

Instead of trusting that God will show us how to deal with our problems, and tell us how to act, we have been running to the world’s experts. God wants us to realize that our problems cannot be permanently solved until we turn to the only One who has the power to help us make those positive changes in our lives.


READ: 2 Chronicles 16:7-14 and Mark 5:24-29


In light of today’s study, what was the Scripture or statement in today’s lesson that most spoke to your heart? __________________________________________________ ____

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What steps of faith does God want you to take towards Him today? ________________

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Rephrase the Scripture or statement into an expression of faith _____________________

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Memorize the following Scripture this week:

2 Corinthians 10:3, 4 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,