After many many years of struggling with my weight and trying to attack it from every angle humanly possible I finally came to a mind blowing realization! Gluttony is a sin! (Genesis 25:30-34, Proverbs 23:2, Proverbs 23:20-21, Ezekiel 16:49)
Now I have known this fact for as long as I can remember, however, it was more a factoid in my semi-conscious knowledge database than anything I actually applied in my faith, life, or diet battle strategies. Probably because it was NEVER preached from the pulpit in my presence (and I have attended alot of church in my day). Probably because it is completely taboo. I mean you think teaching about homosexuality will get your congregation up in arms? Try telling them they're fat and that God says it's a sin! Whew!
But here's the thing, God tells us it's a sin because He love's us. Because He knows it's something we cannot overcome without Him. After all, isn't the purpose of the Law to show us that we are slaves to our own sinful nature and can not conquer that sin without God? That's why He sent Jesus. Because He knows we can't conquer sin on our own. We need His victory over and freedom from sin, and He DIED to give it to us! So how sad is it, that we are so afraid to offend people, that we fail to offer them the one true answer to any sin problem, Jesus?
I put this out there, because I have recently begun this journey with Dad, and I will probably continue to blog on it with numbered titles as I learn and grow in it.
The FIRST thing I have learned and am growing in, is to give it to Him. Confess it, admit we can't do this on our own, and lay it at His feet. Stop dieting, stop counting calories. We need to let go of our death grip on this part of our lives. Self control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), not something we obtain by our own virtue or effort. Only accepting God's forgiveness and putting Him in control will get us where He wants us, and that is free from the bondage of sin.
Romans 8:2-4
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
God bless.
