So the celebration of Christmas and the upcoming New Year continues. Many are eating and drinking to excess with the idea that after the holidays they will trim back down. Funny how those extra pounds seem to go on much easier and faster than they come off, and the resolve to shed that extra weight never seems as strong as the temptation to add them.
One of my sons and his family came down for a visit and we cooked a huge turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings. My youngest grandson Ryan who is just five years old said the blessing and ended it with: “The End” instead of “Amen”. Though we all got a big laugh out of that one, actually that prayer was merely the beginning and not the end of a gorge-fest that only stopped after a huge meal had been consumed and a delicious pumpkin pie had been decimated.
I’ve gotten a jump on things by working out a few times over the past few days, but it seems to be too little- too late, and I have gained a solid five pounds with still more time left on the holiday clock. Ugh . . .
The Bible tells us to do everything in moderation. It also tells us that our body is a temple and that we have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and we should respect that. So overeating is a sin, but on the big scale of things is it really such a terrible evil to overeat?
Hmmm . . . The problem with sin is that there are always consequences to every sin, even those that we consider minor. Unhealthy eating is no exception, ask any doctor.
Many people don’t look at it like it is sin, but are quick to condemn other sins. I once spoke at a church and afterwards as I was walking across the parking lot to my car a lady came running after me and started yelling at me about serving alcohol at weddings at Honey Lake and that it was a sin. I responded that the fist miracle of Jesus was changing water to wine at a wedding. Obviously it is not a sin to drink in moderation; otherwise He would not have done that. The problem is those few who drink to excess.
She was very overweight, and I looked her up and down and then asked her if gluttony was a sin. She turned red as a beet and stammered that yes she supposed it was. I asked her if I should quit serving food in our restaurant at Honey Lake, because some people overindulge when they eat. She didn’t respond. In fact she turned on her heel and walked away without another word.
I am reminded how tough it is to resist temptation. No small wonder that when Jesus was teaching the disciples how they should pray that He told them to ask God to lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil. This lets us know that temptation is bigger than we are and that we need God when we face it. It begins with prayer . . .
Matt. 6:9
Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we also have forgiven our trespassers. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
December 28, 2015 – Click here to listen