Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was a difficult day for me. Our music time in worship was okay, people were sporadic in their engagement during the music. Our attendance was good, not great but good. Jody and I made the decision to take off just after church, we were heading 6 hours south for a conference. Originally we were going to leave Sunday evening and go part way, but with the weather prediction we took off about 1pm. It was already snowing hard and the roads were slick. We made a good choice, we were out of the bad weather in an hour and it got much worse at home. After the snow a quarter inch of ice arrived and knocked out power in many places. More snow is on the way today. We made a very good choice, by the time we arrived at the city of our conference it was 60 degrees here.

It was the 3rd part of my series on "Breaking Bondages". This week was on the bondage of food. I know many people don't consider this a big one, but God called gluttony one of the seven deadly sins. I realize that most would not put it in the same category with our other areas of the series such as pornography, drugs, alcohol, bitterness, etc... But it is a really big deal, pun definitely intended.

I Corinthians 6:12-20 is our foundation for this series, we also looked at Matthew 5:6, and Proverbs 23:20-21.One stat I found was that 60% of professing Christians are overweight. Obesity is a major problem in the United States, in 1991 only 4 states had obesity rates as high as 15-19% in 2005 only 4 states were in that range all others were higher with many over 30%. We must recognize that this is a spiritual issue, it is clear in the Bible. We need to recognize the difference between need and greed in the area of food. We do not need near as much as eat, when we continue to stuff ourselves that is greed, the Bible calls it gluttony. Gluttony is an ugly word isn't it? One man excused himself saying he was not a glutton, just an explorer of food. We can laugh this one away, but it is still a big issue. A French proverb says, "A glutton is one who digs his grave with his teeth." There are many dangers with this area of bondage. Physically is the most obvious, not just being overweight but eating disorders create many serious physical issues. Emotionally many struggle with this area and it crushes their self esteem and relationships. Spiritually we have trouble justifying our behavior while trying to be obedient to Christ in other areas. Economically we suffer with the amount of food we eat and how often we eat out.

Healing is possible. You can control your desires for food, it may take some time but it can be done. Fasting can help return your focus to God and show you how important food has become to you. Remember, you are only to be mastered by Christ. We are to hunger and thrist for righteousness and for more of God. We wise about your eating, not just volume but also in what you eat. Pray about it. Prayer is powerful in healing this area of bondage. If you are praying about it you will have trouble ignoring it. Seek help, don't go it alone. Be accountable, to another person or group.

How are you doing in this area? Do you desire to change? What will you do and when will you begin?

(I have not been posting this past week. I was sick and am still getting over this virus. I will try to post a couple of times while I am at this conferenc if there is time. Thanks for checking in on my blog.)