They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT)
Not everyone who is promising freedom is living in freedom themselves.
I started my online business back in 2015 when I became a coach with a popular fitness company. I’m thankful for the coach I had, for the first challenge group I participated in, and the many women I met online through that experience. However, I didn’t stay with the company long because I quickly learned it didn’t align with my core belief that you can live fit and free. My definition of living fit and free means integrating your faith and fitness without being a slave to numbers, whether that means pounds, calories, steps, or product sales.
I can’t tell you the number of coaches (even the one I had) who have come clean, so to speak, over the years. They’ve admitted that they were “showing and telling” one thing on social media, but doing another behind the scenes. Things like taking a picture of their plate of food for social media but eating less than what they posted to get sales. They posted bare midriffs saying they were doing the workout videos and drinking the shakes, but they weren’t just doing the workout videos. They were doing multiple workouts a day. These same women were using the #faithandfitness hashtag and promising freedom from dieting.
We read in the Bible about false teachers, but we have some among us. Many of these coaches online are promising freedom by using their products or methods, but they are still slaves to a number on the scale and to posting a social-media-acceptable body. They are telling you one thing, but they’re still entrenched in their old ways of thinking and of doing things.
Satan lives to deceive, but you don’t have to become his next victim. Stay rooted in God’s Word. Know the truth. We can’t ever know or see a person’s full story. We only see what they allow us to see. I appreciate my past coach and others who have been open about what was really going on during that time in their lives. But I’m concerned for those who put all of their hope and trust in a person, product, or program and then feel like a failure when they can’t achieve the results they’re seeing from dishonest coaching. Especially when these people are giving them Bible verses to go along with their programs.
Yes, there are good and godly influencers who can help you find freedom, but you must stay grounded in the truth of God’s Word and discern what is right for your unique situation to honor who and how God made you.
Action Step
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern the false messages from the genuine ones that are downloaded directly from Christ. Pursue truth and allow the Lord to guide you on your path to truly living fit and free.
{Note: I’m working on a new devotional that is all about living fit and free. This devotion will appear on Day 8. Stay tuned!}
