"Little Bit of a Weight Problem"

The Man in the Mirror | Chapter 2: Leading an Unexamined Life | “Because we don’t take this invisible war seriously, many of us are losing the battle for our minds.  But we can win them back by committing ourselves to self-examination through studying the Scriptures.  You can know the real you, the you that is known by our God.”

scrip·ture | Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

de·vo·tion·al | “I’d better not.  I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem.  I used to grab bear claws as a kid, two at a time, and I’d get them lodged right in this region here.” [motioning at his stomach] – Tommy Boy

The thing is, I can totally relate to Tommy Boy here, only it was Little Debbie Snacks instead of bear claws for me.  All of that free-for-all with my food as a kid has really led to me battling with my weight as an adult.  The only time I have been able to manage my weight is when I use Weight Watcher or MyFitnessPal to examine my food habits daily.

Using MyFitnessPal, I am consistently journaling the food choices I make for the day, and it allows me to examine my eating habits carefully.  Now when I first started journaling my food intake, I was floored by the completely bad food choices I was making.  I was completely oblivious to my food choices adding to my “little bit of a weight problem.”  I was leading an unexamined life when it came to my food, which was making me lazy and ignorant in my approach to getting healthy.  As long as I stick with the approach of using MyFitnessPal and examining my food intake daily, I am much more successful at meeting my goals of being healthy.  This same concept is true for us as Christians.

If we do not take the time to get into God’s Word, and examine ourselves prayerfully along with God’s Spirit daily, we will end up finding ourselves being comfortable with the world and becoming lazy in our journey towards becoming a righteous disciple of God.  We find ourselves having a bunch of “spiritual weight problems”.  Set times aside to read God’s Word and examine your daily habits against the character of Christ.  Set time aside to pray and examine your spirit along with the Holy Spirit to help you in the areas you need to change in your life.  

prayer | LORD, I pray to You now, asking that You provide me with the words, truths, and knowledge that will lead me to a more examined life.  Lend me Your Spirit, that I may find comfort and strength in not doing this journey alone.  I ask that the strength You give gets me passed the initial shock of my spiritual weight problems, and I can lead a more truthful and transparent path towards becoming a righteous disciple of You.  Amen

Daily Time with God |

Mon·day

2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

Tues·day

John 5:30-32 “... I see not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.  There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

Wednes·day

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

Thurs·day

Galatians 6:4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

Fri·day

1 Corinthians 11:27-31 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.