On Sunday we went to church with some friends and the sermon was so good. Amazingly, the topic was right in there with what I’ve been studying in my Galations and Hebrews study.
We started with the verses in Romans 11:36 - 12:1 which says,
“For from him [God] and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.“
I know we’ve all read these verses before, but for some reason they are becoming more real to me lately. A couple of points the pastor mentioned really stuck out for me.
1) The [worldly] thing that you think will set you free, will actually become obsessive and controlling. The obvious examples are drugs, drinking, etc. But, his example was of a woman he knew who began running to lose weight. Over time the running became an obssession and it hurt her physically. She began having a lot of joint problems. So, even if something starts out as good, without the Holy Spirit in control, this thing starts taking control.
And 2) The Holy Spirit must be allowed to change the way we think before we can change the way we behave. Psalm 119:11 says that “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” He was really talking about how so many of us Christians look just like our unbelieving friends and neighbors on the outside. We work, we accumulate stuff, we go to movies, whatever. No one can really tell the difference by our behavior, other than we go to church on Sunday. What we really need is to submit our whole body - mind & physical body - to the Holy Spirit and only then will our behaviors change.
God has been working on this in me over the last couple of years, at least! But yesterday, it struck me that what I eat has also controlled me in the past. And I can see that even as we all try to eat more healthy, it can still control us, even though we are looking better on the outside. I was encouraged and inspired to really submit my whole life to Christ. And I was encouraged that the behavior change WILL come, but not because I’m trying to be so disciplined, but because the Holy Spirit will change my behavior as I let him change the way I think from the inside out… even my eating behaviors.
You are absolutely right Anita!!! Often times we move from being in bondage to eating too much and being out of control with our food to being in bondage to a “plan” or exercise regime. I desperately want freedom in this area of my life and I know God is working on me to get there…it’s just not going to happen overnight.
I’ve said before that I believe anyone can lose weight but not everyone finds satisfaction in it (been there, done that). That comes through the Lord. Excellent post and thank you for sharing it!
Comment by Blair — October 17, 2006 @ 6:41 am
Excellent thoughts, Anita.
Comment by lady laura — October 17, 2006 @ 10:30 am