Dead man walking

There is an obesity epidemic going on in this country and it is killing hundreds of thousands of people. The love affair going on whereby people worship their bellies is taking a deadly toll in the form of heart disease, diabetes 2, high blood pressure, etc.

A friend of mine recently had surgery to put bands on his stomach that in effect reduced the size of his stomach; he was considered morbidly obese. Now when he eats, he feels full after a normal sized meal that is carefully measured out. In addition to his surgery, he is now exercising and riding his bike daily. He has lost an enormous amount of weight in just a matter of a few weeks and has in fact reduced his size by roughly half. He looks great and in fact looks like a normal person in every respect and he told me that he feels great for the first time that he can remember. He was taking about twelve different pills for various maladies and now is taking no medication whatsoever and his blood pressure among other things is completely normal.

What has transpired here? He is eating smaller portions of the right kinds of foods and combining it with a daily exercise program. This does not sound like rocket science and no one has to read a book on it, be hypnotized, or pay big bucks to get on some special diet complete with gourmet diet food. Eat normal sized portions of healthy foods and exercise and you can go from morbidly obese to normal, from an unhealthy “dead man walking” to a “healthy man running”.

Well why haven’t more people done it? Hmmm Good question. The only difference is that the stomach bands make the person feel full when they eat a normal size meal. In time shrinking of the stomach occurs naturally after someone goes on a diet without surgery, but there is some initial discomfort and cravings for food in dieting without the surgery. One must maintain a level of self discipline in order to weather the early stages of withdrawal and therein lays the problem for many food addicts. Although I have never had problems with my weight I do know something about cravings as I was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes and quit all “cold turkey” without going to rehab or support groups. It was not easy I can assure you, but it was well worthwhile to give up all three and in fact I probably would not be alive today had I not done so. For sure I would not be near as healthy.

Self discipline is sorely lacking in the United States these days, because our population has reached the point of non-acceptance of even minor discomfort. We ride our elevators in air conditioned comfort to reach our sedentary desk jobs where we wolf down a doughnut or three; we eat to excess and drink to excess. The average American watches 127 hours of television per month as a couch potato wasting their body and mind on primarily useless drivel. To be brutally frank, more and more are simply becoming fat and lazy.

The Bible tells us that our body is a temple and, (for Christians), is inhabited by the Holy Spirit and is His home. Our bodies are in fact owned by God and were bought at a great price, the blood of Jesus. Our bodies should glorify God, not embarrass him, and we should do nothing to defile His temple. Do not make your body into a Temple of Doom. You don’t have to go under the knife to become healthy. Reach down deep inside yourself with a new determination to obey God and keep His temple in order. Yes you will face some initial discomfort, and yes you will be tempted to stuff yourself silly, and yes you might even work up a little sweat, but nothing worthwhile is gained without expending some effort, including enduring some temptation to gorge, and Lord forbid some discomfort.

God wants you to succeed. It is doubtful that you can achieve His purpose for your life in an unhealthy, unfit overweight condition. It is a sin to allow your body to reach an unhealthy state of disrepair. I encourage you today to begin a new program to obey God and avoid the consequence(s) that this sin will bring to your life.

1 Cor. 6:19
Or do you not know that your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
who is in you, whom you have from
God and you are not your own?
For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God’s.