%20(2).png)
Revelation Within On the Go!
Revelation Within equips people with life-giving, grace-infused mind renewal tools to deepen their intimacy with Jesus so that counterfeit comforts (like overeating) lose their allure, and the joy and hope of Jesus fills their lives, satisfying their souls.
In our podcast we talk about mind renewal, tips and tricks for getting and staying free from counterfeit comforts like overeating (over-scrolling, over-drinking, over-anythinging...)
We began as Thin Within in 1975, a pioneer in intuitive, mindful eating back when diets were in their hey day! Thin Within has taught people how to tune in to their body's natural signals of hunger and satisfaction, remaining present with their meals and delighting in tastes and textures--and the Lord!
In the 1980s, Thin Within became a Christian ministry, showing people that the emptiness that they have felt and often filled with food that their bodies don't require, was really placed in there to be filled full with God through Jesus. He wants to set us free from all strongholds!
We rebranded our ministry and our podcast in 2023 to Revelation Within.
Join us!
Visit us in our RevWithin.Team community as well! (https://revwithin.team)
Find our listing of classes at https://www.revelationwithin.org
Revelation Within On the Go!
How God’s Love Overcomes Greed and Idolatry
Have you ever considered how deeply intertwined our everyday battles with greed and idolatry are, even with something as simple as food? That's where our conversation begins, prompted by Colossians 3:5, as we reflect on our own struggles and the transformative power of God's grace. We assure you that there is no condemnation for those in Christ, echoing the comforting words of Romans 8:1.
Understanding that God's love is not something to be earned but embraced can be life-altering. In this episode, we contemplate the unyielding nature of His love and how it brings overwhelming victory. Through personal experiences, we reveal how surrender and vulnerability can deepen our relationship with God, making His love most palpable during life's challenges. Join us as we celebrate the joy and provision of God's unwavering love and strength, leaving you with peace and happiness, focused on His promises.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Hi and welcome to our podcast, revelation Within On the Go. I'm Heidi Wiles-Mapperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the RevelationWithinorg ministry.
Speaker 2:And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all of Revelation Within on the go.
Speaker 1:Well, let's just dive on in. I tell you what we've got such fun ahead. Now to the listener. We're starting with kind of a challenging topic, but if you stay with us, we're going to dive into the scriptures and I think you're going to like where we're going to land. That's my prayer anyway. So we're going to start right off the bat with Colossians 3, verse 5. You might even want to have your Bible because we're going to dive into a bunch of scriptures. Colossians 3, verse 5 says put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Well, I don't know about you, but I feel pretty confident as I go through this list that no problem. Sexual morality I've put that off. Impurity, okay. Lust I don't think I have any lust issues going on. Evil desires, until I come to greed, which is idolatry, ouch, ouch. So we're going to talk about that today.
Speaker 2:Are you sure? Are you sure you don't want to talk about something else? I don't know. This sounds like a really tough topic.
Speaker 1:Well, if it's tough because you can't think of a way that you're greedy, think about food, do you? Ever feel greedy for chocolate chip bundt cake? What? How did you know? How did you know? How did you know?
Speaker 2:oh, my goodness, okay I guess I'm in talking about it.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm okay until we start thinking about food. And am I greedy about food? And is this common? Are other people like this? Or is this just a product of my many years of dysfunctional relationship with food? Is it unique only to me?
Speaker 2:No, it's not only to you, that's for sure. But I'm just going to throw in Romans 8.1 right now, because we need this at this very moment, and that is there is no condemnation for those of us in Christ. Yes, there is no condemnation for those of us in Christ. Yes.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 2:We are not condemned?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're not, no matter what. To give context to kind of what we want to talk about today, I thought it might be helpful to show a progression that is very real and very wonderful, and the first parts of it though the beginning of that progression are kind of hard to swallow. But you've already gotten this far. You know greed, which is idolatry. You were supposed to die to that, yeah. So why don't you start us off with that?
Speaker 2:Okay, so there is a progression from our condition apart from God's grace to the transformative power of that grace and the call to live in response to it. Okay so, first, our condition apart from God's grace. Number one, romans 3, 23,. For all have sinned, all, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1:This verse makes me think of an illustration that you use sometimes, christina, when you're talking about perfection and how it's just not going to happen where you take a basketball and you shoot for a hoop on the moon and it's just not going to make it all the way there. Some people might be able to get the basketball a little farther than others, but none of us can get it all the way to the basket on the moon. So all of us have sinned and fall short of his glory.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Secondly, ephesians 2, 1 to 3 says once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. Oh, my goodness, that is my condition, apart from God's intervention, I mean, it's so interesting, you know, we speak of an attitude of entitlement that sometimes causes us to do things that we wish we hadn't. Later, I'm entitled to be treated better, I'm entitled to eat what I want, or I'm entitled to this or that, and what I'm entitled to, according to these scriptures, is God's wrath, and thankfully, that's not where it stops. We'll get there in a minute, though.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. So I do have some wonderful, wonderful news from Romans, chapter six, verse 23 for the wages of sin is death, yes, but here comes the but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and it just doesn't get any better than that. What an incredible gift.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, left on my own, I deserve death. Isaiah 59, too, gives us even more about that, where God says it's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. Now, that was then. This is our condition, apart from Jesus. But how wonderful is it that God supplies grace. He provides the solution to the very problem. And what is grace Really? It's getting a blessing that I don't deserve.
Speaker 1:A lot of people refer to the letters in the word grace G-R-A-C-E as an acrostic that kind of describes what grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. And that expense, of course, was the cross, the torturing that Jesus had to endure and the actually being nailed to a cross and hung, and I think there's a whole lot of other suffering he went through for us. But I mean, at the very least we can see that Christ's expense. He paid it all literally. And I love first John three, verse one tells us see how very much our father loves us. He calls us his children and that is what we are.
Speaker 2:I love that. Okay, now, I really like the way this is going, heidi, we do. This is the part I like. So let's now go to Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. For by grace that very grace that Heidi was just talking about for by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So this isn't something that I can do, that I can fix, that I can put together, that I can figure out. This is off of my shoulders. This is a gift from God, and that's the only place that it comes from.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting too, because so often we think of okay, so it is by grace, I've been saved, but we don't think of the rest of the verse, even that, even that is not like you just said. It's not from me, it's a gift. God gives me a gift of belief, of faith. It's just amazing to me that he does that. Romans 5, 8 tells us that God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, christ died for us.
Speaker 1:So I get hope from this, because when I think about the sin that I still struggle with at times, like greed when I'm, you know, eating that's just one of many examples I could use but that even in my messed up way of relating to food and eating, I don't have to pursue perfection. I don't have to hope that I can drum up enough godliness that God's going to love me, because even while I was still sinning, before I ever had a Godward thought, god demonstrated his love by giving Jesus. That's just amazing. So I know that I don't have to perform a certain way to win God's love. It's already there. He's proven it through Christ.
Speaker 2:Yes, and isn't that absolutely beautiful?
Speaker 1:Yes, I want to just camp there. Wait a minute, let's just have a moment of quiet. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It's so good just to kind of soak in that for a moment, okay, and then 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19,. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. This is an indescribable gift. It's an amazing gift that there's nothing like it on earth. It is from God, who loves us.
Speaker 1:It's really something to think about. If something is determined, its value is determined by what somebody pays for it.
Speaker 1:So, often that's how we think of it Then think you know, the blood of Christ is what paid for us. That's what I mean when you think about redemption. I know that when I was a kid growing up, we could take soda bottles that we had saved into the grocery stores and get cash back for bringing those soda bottles in. They called it redemption. Yes, they did. A worthless bottle became three cents. It was redeemed. Yeah, by the time I left from redeeming all my bottles, I could buy something of value like a candy bar, anyway. But this is oh beyond imagining that the precious blood of Christ purchased us Even in the state that we were in which we just talked about. We won't go there again because it wasn't fun, but wow.
Speaker 1:And Ephesians 1.7 says in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, beautiful, Okay. And then Hebrews 4, 16. Love, love, love this. Let us then approach God's throne of grace. Don't you love that idea, that picture of a throne of grace? Let us approach with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. This is such a beautiful invitation and I kind of imagine like opening a little envelope, opening this invitation, and then at the bottom of it it says love God, you know like I want to invite you, come as often as you can come and, and you know, receive these gifts for me. I have unlimited grace for you gifts for me.
Speaker 1:I have unlimited grace for you. I just love that. I love this verse too, and it often kind of stirs up some visual imagery. For me as well, the fact that God is the one that invites us boggles my mind. I mean, when you think of, yeah, things that we know from kings and queens and all of that, you don't just walk up to a throne and say, give me this or give me that, and yet God says let us approach. He inspired the writer of Hebrews to tell us to approach, and the fact that there's a throne there reminds us who's really in charge, who's the authority, and I love that. It's a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment, a throne of condemnation. It's a throne of God's riches at Christ's expense. Wow. And then how am I supposed to approach? Timidly, like I'm scared he's going to zap me. No, with confidence. Oh, my goodness, that I get to receive mercy and find what Grace.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:To help me in my time of need. I just I could camp on that verse all day too. So we are going to camp for a little bit in Romans, chapter eight, specifically 31 to 39. I just could not bring myself not, you know to just quote one of these verses as part of our progression this morning and remember where we started we started with. We want to die to our fleshly desires, including greed, which is idolatry. Ouch, ouch, that hits us where we hurt in the food and eating realm often enough, if not anywhere else, and we realize that we have a problem. We have this situation we were born into, where we need a savior and God has blessed us with the answer to our need. So very often we put the cart before the horse. I've got to obey, I've got to obey, I've got to obey. I am not going to do anything but build resentment and frustration if I don't put these in the right order where I get all that God has done and is doing for me. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Romans 8, verse 31 to 39.
Speaker 1:What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us, since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all. Won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own? No one, for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Oh, christina, I'm just thinking right now. I got to go back through this later and personalize this and put my name into it, yes, and pray it. Who then will condemn us? No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand pleading for us.
Speaker 2:Why don't you go ahead? Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death, as the scriptures say? For your sake, we are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Speaker 1:Did you catch that?
Speaker 2:Overwhelming victory is ours, it belongs to us, it's been given to us. I love that verse.
Speaker 1:I do too. And he goes on and says and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Even the powers of hell, not even the powers of hell, can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation, will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed. Wow, wow.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay. So let's keep going, because this is just getting better and better. Now I am loving the direction that we're going in this, heidi, okay, the call to live in response to God's grace. Let's go to Romans 12.1 now. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. I mean, that's the best reason, isn't it? Because of all he has done for us.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, not because I got to do this, because I got to win God's approval. What?
Speaker 2:No, no, no no, let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. I mean, this is where we find what we're longing for. This is where we find that peace we're longing for. This is where we find that peace. This is where we find that things begin to fall in place when we are worshiping God, when we're surrendering to him, when we're letting him have his way in our lives. I just, I love this truth. It's so beautiful and, again, it's not on my shoulders to figure this out, it's not on your shoulders. It's done. It's a done deal, it's a gift. We have an invitation, yay.
Speaker 1:Galatians 2.20 then tells you know, I mean, I got to interrupt myself just to say this, but won't you just love him? So I mean, when we remind ourselves, which is renewing our minds? I don't know about you, but that's what I'm calling this. You know, going through scriptures like this, absolutely, I'm thinking God's thoughts about what he is like, what he has done for me and has done for me. Oh, my goodness, it changes everything I go from. I got to do this and I got to do that. And God is just such a slave master. No, no, he is so good and gracious and loving, and I mean I just the list goes on and on. And anyway, galatians 2.20 says I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what he did, and he continues to give and give and give as I approach his throne of grace. It's just amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, and as we're reading through the scripture, what's jumping out at me is the word love. It comes up again and again, and again and again. This is all about his love for us, which is so hard for us to fathom, I think. But that's what this is. This is a love story. That's what this is.
Speaker 1:I have to ask you, when have you felt most loved by God? I mean, he always loves us. We know that, so I can tell myself at any moment in time God loves me as much as he ever has and as much as he ever will. But is there a time when you have really sensed his overwhelming love for you?
Speaker 2:You know what I have to say. They are at the times when I'm at my worst. Isn't that interesting? The times when I'm really afraid, times when I don't feel well, when my body is hurting, times when there's circumstances that feel impossible in my life. There's circumstances that feel impossible in my life and I go to him with such a heart of surrender when I am at the end of myself.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I wish that wasn't. I mean, I don't know, I wish that it wasn't. So, in some ways, it's true that when we are at the end of ourselves, it's true that when we are at the end of ourselves, we are at a place where we can surrender more fully and more easily and say, wow, you know what? I really don't have control, yeah, and I really need you, god. And then, all of a sudden, I mean he's been there all along, but we're like opening the door to a more intimate relationship with him. Yeah, when we go to him in those moments I was thinking about this the other day how, you know, so many of us are praying for someone, praying for someone we love, maybe a family member or a friend, and our prayers often look like this God, will you fix this? Please Take this away, make it better, make it easier. And yes, I mean, of course, we should pray those things, for sure.
Speaker 2:But like I was thinking about my own adult kids the other day and how I pray for them, but like I was thinking about my own adult kids the other day and how I pray for them, do I want them really to be completely sheltered from every challenge? Do I really want that. Well, but those are the times when we really turn to God with that heart of surrender, and that's really what I want for them. I want them to enjoy that intimacy with the Lord that I have. And then, of course, there's other times when I have felt the love of God. That are times when I'm overwhelmed by something in nature, when I'm sitting in front of an ocean, for example, or sitting at the top of a mountain and looking across a valley of golden aspen trees. I mean there's times. And then the other time that I can think of is just in a relationship with a best friend or with my husband, a relationship that just has God's fingerprints all over it. That's another time that I feel incredibly loved by the Lord.
Speaker 1:Well, titus 2, verse 11 and 12 says For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It also teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. And so, where I love being the recipient of God's grace, this is where it kicks in, it clicks, it begins to click that because of this amazing grace, god, I love him so much. I want to make choices that honor him. So this grace of divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him, who called us to his own glory and excellence. So all these verses kind of collectively highlight our desperate need for grace and they celebrate that God has given us the solution to this challenge, that we need his grace and he's provided it. His love lavishes his grace on us and it kind of reminds us why we love him. Because I love him, I want to us why we love him. Because I love him, I want to dedicate my life to him. I want to honor him.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, but here's the rub, and I know this is so true in my life If we put saying no to ungodliness first, we miss it. We miss it, we end up resentful and rebellious. Perhaps Obedience without love is slavery. Jesus has set us free from slavery. I mean, I don't know about you, but I feel like I've missed a lot over the years and I don't want to miss anything anymore. I feel like I've missed a lot over the years and I don't want to miss anything anymore. I feel like I'm in a season of life where I am so ready to hear him. I want to be open and ready and teachable. I want to be surrendered, and that's not easy. That's not easy, especially when we feel overwhelmed or pummeled by life circumstances. But I don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1:I don't want to miss anything that the Lord has for me, yeah, and when I put obedience at the front end, it sounds godly and everything. But I really need to get back in touch with who God is. Then my love for him is going to overflow into a heart that wants to do what he's calling me to.
Speaker 1:I don't want to lose sight of who he is and what he has done and try then, by gritting my teeth, to do what I think he wants me to do. And so this really is why we focus so much on mind renewal and specifically being aware of who God is through, like the most basic mind renewal tool the first one ever was the God list. We want to get to know or remind ourselves again of who God is, what he does for us, kind of like what we've been reviewing today, what he does for us, kind of like what we've been reviewing today when we look at our condition apart from God and then all he has done to supply what we need, even the gift of faith. He's put that in us that we might be saved by grace. It's by faith, but it's a gift, so that we can't boast. Look at what I've done. We want to know God, we want to praise him for who he is and what he's done. He has brought grace to me, to you Okay.
Speaker 2:So now let's put this verse in context and see how it shifts our perspective. Colossians 3, 5,. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Speaker 1:In light of all God has done and is doing, who he is and everything, is it too much to ask that I put to death greed, whether it's in my shopping for things I don't have the money to pay for, or in my eating or in my drinking? It is idolatry and we can talk about that another time, not today, but it's a whole other topic. But do you see how Colossians 3.5 takes on a completely new meaning when I think of you know, put to death my greed, which is idolatry. Oh, I must do this. I must not be so greedy.
Speaker 1:But what if I love him so much that of course I want to do what he's calling me to? Of course I want to lay down food. Jesus laid down his life for me. Can I lay down seconds or finishing every bite on my plate? Or? I mean, I know that sounds sort of silly, but maybe he wants me to do these things so that I can experience victory as I walk with him and so that I can experience being healthier, emotionally, physically, spiritually. In one of our classes today, somebody mentioned that she had some angst about something that she was getting ready to do and how, for the first time, she renewed her mind and reminded herself of the attributes of God and what that he has called her. He had invited her to do this, and how intimate she felt he was in that moment. Normally she would have eaten over it.
Speaker 1:And she said it's like I would have missed so much had I gone to my usual. And that is true for us. He wants what's best for us, which is to turn to him, not to the pantry, I mean, if we're hungry, that's another story, but physically hungry, not emotionally or spiritually or some other kind of hungry. And so, looking at this verse in perspective of who God is and all he has done for us, it's like, okay, I want to surrender this tendency to be greedy with my food, to go for more than I need, to be completely satisfied and so, godless. Shall we do a quick praise fest to close?
Speaker 2:Yes, let's absolutely. I would love that and I need it today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in a nutshell, it's just go go into the Psalms If you haven't done this before and pull out of there. What is God like? What does he do for people? And then take that list, even if it has just five things on it and praise God with it.
Speaker 1:Just tell him who he is and that you see that this is who he is. We're going to do that right now. God, we want to welcome you into this praise fest. Remind Christina and I of who you are, that we might exalt you for being who you are and, lord, for the listener too. I pray that this might be a special time of being awakened to who you are in their life as well. Thank you God, amen, amen. Oh God, you are my way maker when there seems to be no way.
Speaker 2:God, you are the lover of my soul. God, you are the lover of my soul.
Speaker 1:Oh Lord, you are the one who lifts my chin and your shield around me.
Speaker 2:God, you are my hiding place, my strong tower, my place of refuge and rest.
Speaker 1:You are my stronghold, Lord. God, you are the one who calls me friend. God, there is nothing.
Speaker 2:You wouldn't do for me, for your beloved God. You are my mission. Impossible God, Nothing is impossible for you.
Speaker 1:I love that Lord. You are my shepherd and you sweetly lead me beside quiet waters.
Speaker 2:God, you are the one whose strength is made perfect in my weakness.
Speaker 1:God, you are the one who knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, and you know everything in between.
Speaker 2:Yes, god, you are the one that knows me inside and out. You made me fearfully and wonderfully.
Speaker 1:Lord, God, we are just so grateful that you are the God who provides all that we need all that we need everything we need for life, and godliness comes from you. God, you are the one who quiets me with your love and rejoices over me with singing.
Speaker 2:It's just oh, it's so good, isn't it? Heidi and I have big, huge smiles on our faces right now. It's so, so good to fix our eyes on him. Well, we hope that you've enjoyed your time together with us today, even though we started out with a difficult topic, but we had a really good ending to our story, the love story from the Lord. And we'd love for you to join us the next time we meet on our podcast revelation women thanks for being here bye.
