Love Your Body Like God Loves It
Today is Memorial Day and the grandkids are visiting, so I’m going to re-post an updated article I wrote two years ago but still is so relevant on this Love Your Body Monday. At the end of this blog, I share a blog post that I couldn’t have written better myself.
Are You Being Tempted to Overeat Today?
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Chances are you’re going to a picnic or BBQ today and you’ll survey a table full of delectable foods just calling your name. Foods like chips and dips, greasy ribs or fried chicken, and oh, the desserts … luscious brownies, pies, homemade ice cream maybe even with toppings. You think to yourself, well it’s a holiday and I’ll go on a diet tomorrow. But wait, haven’t you been saying that since New Years and now it’s six months later and you’re still playing that same “holiday” excuse for eating unwisely? There’s a “holiday” almost every month when we could justify “going off the diet” not to mention vacation time. I did write a blog post last year to help you Love Your Body On Vacation.
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What if you looked at that table spread of food and mentally labeled each food that you know you shouldn’t be eating as “poison,” which you wouldn’t eat even when it wasn’t a holiday. That’s exactly what I do when I encounter a potluck. We now live in the land of potlucks at church, small group, people houses … and I never know what they’re serving or what’s in some of the dishes. So I make sure to take something to the potluck I can eat … usually a green salad, watermelon, or fruit. I don’t eat red meat or pork, so if that’s what they’re serving, I just fill up on the things I can eat. It won’t hurt me not to have the “main dish.”
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Often The Church Encourages Overeating
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The church has always been a place of eating and overeating as we fellowship together. The early Christians ate together and “broke bread,” but I doubt their potlucks would look like ours today. Church gatherings often center on food, and sadly, many pastors are overweight. Not so much the younger generation of pastors, but many of the older pastors set poor examples of taking care of their bodily temples. Especially when the Bible says that gluttony and overeating is wrong!
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Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness
—Ezekiel 16:49 NLT
Oh listen, dear child—become wise;
point your life in the right direction.
Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk;
don’t eat too much food and get fat.
Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row,
in a stupor and dressed in rags.—Proverbs 23:19-21 The Message
I find that people often consider me an anomaly at our church as I ask what’s in something or only have a few items on my plate at a potluck or dinner event. One person even made the comment, “I saw you eat some chicken so I guess you do eat ‘normal.’” I laughed and said, “Yes I do eat normal, it’s just depends on your definition of normal.”
[Tweet “What’s your definition of eating normal?”]
Why Aren’t There More Sermons on Overeating as a Sin?
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Like any sin, sin is personal and today especially even the church shrinks from calling out personal sin and its dangers. Churches are full of unmarried couples living together—that’s a sin. And they’re also full of parishioners eating themselves to death—that’s a sin too. But how often do you hear either as a topic of a sermon?
This week, I came across a blog post and I thought to myself, I must share this with my followers. It’s written by a pastor and I couldn’t say it any better than he did, so I’m going to leave you with the link and encourage all of you to prayerfully read it and consider for yourself whether or not you’re abusing your body with food and would that be considered a sin in God’s eyes.
Pray for the Military
Today, is a day to honor those who died in battle fighting for the very freedoms that many in our government and the liberal progressive left are trying to take away from Conservatives and Christians today, especially the men and women in the military. Read this article “Air Force general who spoke of God should be court-martialed.” Weep and pray as you remember the men and women who gave their lives so that you and I could worship the One True God.
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Now, go to this link to read about “The Sin of Overeating” and if you received this blog by email, leave your comments here.
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