(spiritual) Devotion #6

Hi, Everyone.
Thank you for the personal messages after yesterday's devotion. I appreciate your thoughts, and I am encouraged by them.
Today's devotion comes from my personal journal dated April 14, 2007.

     Today I thought about all the diets I've tried. I thought about all the "no no" foods and how I've tried to avoid them in the past. The more I tried to avoid them, the more I wanted them! Self-denial has not been my strongest area! It's as if I feel entitled. Perhaps because of all I've been through in my life, somewhere along the line I decided to comfort myself with food.
     The Lord led me to Colossians 2:20-23, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch'? (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."
     That's what I have done in the past! I tried to rely on the "teachings of men," experts in the area of nutrition and weight loss, and tried to deny myself, all without the power to affect real change. There was little value in any of that!
     Now I know that the real problem is not food (or certain foods). The real problem is indulgence of my flesh. My flesh cries out to be gratified, and I, lacking self-control, indulge it. I have so spoiled my flesh that it demands more and more. I realize that now. It's like I have a spoiled brat inside my body.
     What do I do with that new knowledge? That's what I asked God in prayer. This is what He "told" me. "Receive food with thanksgiving and with discipline." The first part I get. The second part, I was not so sure. That required more prayer.
     I realize that eating in a disciplined manner involves choices. It's not really what to eat (which is what I focused on in the past), but when to eat and how much to eat. Making those choices proves that I have taken the time to receive the food with thanksgiving and discipline.
     I went back to Colossians 2:20-23, and I read some of the preceding verses. That's when I noticed that in verse 16 it says, "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink..." Wow! Is that freeing or what! This is such a "new" way of looking at food and consuming food; I know that it will take time to truly understand what it all means.
     I know God's plan (whatever that ends up being) will work for me in ways I've never dreamed. He is unfolding that plan daily to me. It's exciting!
     I was reminded of another verse, and I found it in Ist Timothy 4:5, "Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." You mean, God, I can eat anything I want, as long as I receive it in gratitude and prayer? No list of "good" and "bad" foods? Yikes!
     So...I eat in a disciplined manner. I eat in moderation, which is self-control. I eat with thanksgiving and prayer. Why is it that seems so simple and so hard, all at the same time? Help me, Lord, to understand AND to do it.

Today, each time you eat, pay attention to how you're eating. Are you eating with thanksgiving and with discipline? Work on anything that is lacking.

NOTE: As WLS pre- or post-ops, there are some foods we must avoid. That is part of our eating with discipline. In a later devotion, God addressed that issue with me, even though I was not considering WLS at the time.

Blessings,
Mary