How much time do you spend thinking about food?

Thinking about what you should eat, or shouldn’t?

How many minutes (hours) do you scroll through social media longing for the latest fat burning hacks?

How much closer does the perfectly portioned, totally organic, low-fat, no-carb, heart-healthy, muscle building meal get you to God and happiness?

Do you spend equal amounts of time focused on real worship and gratitude? If not, it will never matter how balanced your plate is, your heart and life will continually be unbalanced and unfulfilled.

Trust me, I know. As a registered dietitian, I’ve worked a decade trying to help you build balanced meals, find time to exercise and convince you to value taking care of yourself because you are worth it. I still, wholeheartedly believe in that mission. Nevertheless, at the core, that well-intended message is flawed, and so is our collective approach to wellness.

We all want to be well.

There isn’t a single person who woke up this morning just dying to get to heaven. Not one of you rushed out of bed to check your blood pressure, blood sugar, or scale, giddy to see life threating numbers. That would be ludicrous.

The desire to be healthy is as universal as the desire for shelter, plenty of food, to feel safe and have opportunities to thrive. No one wishes against good health. It’s unnatural. We agree we all want to be well, but we might not all realize we can’t get to wellness without worship.

In Psalm 103, David understands that true worship is something deeply inward, of the soul. It’s not just bumper stickers, singing praise songs, church attendance, or checking off a daily devotional or liking Bible verses online. True worship is an inward lifestyle that springs from your soul. David called for everything from his head to his toe, to give honor and praise to God. That is going all in!

We are quick to jump to verses 3-5 in Psalm 103 and want God’s favor in the form of forgiveness, healing, mercy, and goodness. And let's face it, most of our "wellness" desires are really in vain – a longing for youth! Isn’t that what you want, after all? Fewer wrinkles, a tight tushy, and to be able to run, jump, and play at any decade? That’s youth.

But you can’t get to verse 3-5 without going through 1-2, first. Bluntly speaking, you can’t get to real wellness without going through authentic worship.

Don’t forget a single blessing! What a call to action for believers who have been given so much already. When you finally take inventory of every single merit of favor God has bestowed on you, the remembrance along will provide you all the reason to stay in contestant praise.

Once the scale tips to more time spent in praise and worship than obsessing over food and your figure, you’ll start to see a wellness transformation from the inside out. I can’t promise you that worshiping God is the weight loss tool you’ve been praying for, but I can guarantee you, you will never reach true wellness, no matter your weight or athletic achievements, without worship.

As cliché as it sounds, on your death bed, what are you going to recall?

All God has provided you over your life span, or what was the protein, to carb ratio or your last meal?

Don’t wait till your dying to understand the benefits of living.

You can’t have earthly wellness without heavenly worship.

PS- God is good at calling out BS worship.

Go to God in worship as a no strings attached believer, not a beggar.

Love you, mean it.