When “Dude, Just Eat Something” Doesn’t Work…

Con­fronting some­one with an eat­ing dis­or­der is never com­fort­able. Eat­ing dis­or­ders are as unique as the indi­vid­ual, so there’s no “one size fits all” approach to start­ing this crit­i­cal con­ver­sa­tion. How­ever, here are some gen­eral guide­lines of how to bib­li­cally approach some­one with a sin issue in their life, such as an eat­ing disorder.

Speak the truth in love. No mat­ter how dif­fi­cult it may be, don’t just look the other way. Eat­ing dis­or­ders have man­aged to cre­ate an image as a dis­ease rather than a sin addic­tion, but that’s just a lie. Yes, eat­ing dis­or­ders have phys­i­cal con­se­quences. Yes, eat­ing dis­or­ders are very much a men­tal bat­tle. But so is being addicted to cocaine. Speak truth into their life because you love them.

“Then we will no longer be imma­ture like chil­dren. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teach­ing. We will not be influ­enced when peo­ple try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, grow­ing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together per­fectly. As each part does its own spe­cial work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and grow­ing and full of love.“
– Eph­esians 4:14–16

After you address your con­cern, pray for them before you leave, and ask them to pray about your con­ver­sa­tion on their own. If you were angry with some­one and they prayed over you, how would it change your heart? You prob­a­bly would find that your heart was soft­ened just by their words. The power of prayer is incred­i­ble. Don’t just tell them you’ll be pray­ing for them. SHOW them by pray­ing for them right then so they can see how you are actively tak­ing their life to God.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anx­ious thoughts. Point out any­thing in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of ever­last­ing life.“
– Psalm 139:23–24

Remind them if they just sub­mit their whole life to God, He will change them. The power of addic­tion can seem so strong that there’s no way to over­come it. That is a LIE! What seems impos­si­ble for us isn’t even dif­fi­cult for God. It’s just a mat­ter of giv­ing Him control.

“For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose con­duct shows they are really ene­mies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruc­tion. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shame­ful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are cit­i­zens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly wait­ing for him to return as our Sav­ior. He will take our weak mor­tal bod­ies and change them into glo­ri­ous bod­ies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring every­thing under his con­trol.“
– Philip­pi­ans 3:18–21

“No human wis­dom or under­stand­ing or plan can stand against the Lord.” Prov. 21:30.

Ground them in His Words…not yours. As no-brainer logic as “Dude, just eat some­thing!” may sound, eat­ing dis­or­ders are much more com­pli­cated. No mat­ter how great you think your argu­ment is for why they should stop their destruc­tive behav­ior, your words aren’t sharper than a double-edged sword. God’s are. Give them as much Scrip­ture as you pos­si­bly can that applies to their issue, and allow the Holy Spirit to con­vict them.

“And so, dear broth­ers and sis­ters, I plead with you to give your bod­ies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a liv­ing and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find accept­able. This is truly the way to wor­ship him. Don’t copy the behav­ior and cus­toms of this world, but let God trans­form you into a new per­son by chang­ing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleas­ing and per­fect.“
– Romans 12:1–2

“You made all the del­i­cate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for mak­ing me so won­der­fully com­plex! 
Your work­man­ship is marvelous—how well I know it.“
– Psalm 139:13–14

Remind them that God has already for­given them & help them find the path to for­giv­ing them­selves. One of the biggest issues any repen­tant Chris­t­ian will deal with is guilt. They may not be will­ing to admit they have a prob­lem after your first con­ver­sa­tion, but it never hurts to remind them of the grace we have avail­able to us because of Jesus’ self­less death on the cross.

“So now there is no con­dem­na­tion for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death“
– Romans 8:1–2

You can read how God restored me to Him and to health in my book, The Look that Kills: An Anorexic’s Addic­tion to Control.

The post Guest Post: When “Dude, Just Eat Something” Doesn’t Work first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.

The post Guest Post: When “Dude, Just Eat Something” Doesn’t Work appeared first on I'm Just Thinkin'.