Tuesday, May 16, 2017

What To Do When Your Body Says Yes, But Your Spirit Says No.



…you may be partakers of the divine nature… —2 Peter 1:4

{CHAMBERS} “We are made “partakers of the divine nature,” receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. […] Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges— always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. And there is nothing lovely or generous about our lives.[…] If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance…” (2 Corinthians 9:8)— then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time.”

{ELGIN}  Martie and I had decided that we needed to change our eating habits.  We saw that the course we were on was detrimental to our health and was sure to lead to even more problems the older we get.  So, we started on a new path.  We are having to develop new eating habits.  This has caused us to abandon foods that taste good but are actually contributing to the problem.  We eat less no longer in excess.  It requires discipline on our part and accountability with others.  Other people who encourage us as we travel along this new path.  The thing is, these new habits are not for a season.  We are not looking to the day when our weight and health are in check and we can get back to the food we really want in the quantities that will make our tummies full. I share that because it is analogous to our Christian journey.  There are certain aspects of our old nature that we cling to.  We have a hard time giving them up, like taco chips or chocolate cake.  They provide some form of comfort to our psyche.  But God has called us out of that life to a new life.  We are to practice new spiritual health habits that promote our transformation into the image of Christ.  Habits that promote spiritual health that strengthens our faith and magnifies our witness to the world.  We are in a place, physically, that demands change.  But there is a temptation not to change.  To continue to do what we know we should not because our bodies lust for certain things and we find comfort in them.  In Romans 7:14-19  We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

I know so many people who are slaves to food.  They have to have it.  They know it’s not good for them and yet they yield to it.  That is what Paul was saying about sin.  So he asks “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Our godly habits are founded in faith in Jesus.  In our weakness His strength is made perfect.  But we must yield to Him.  The greatest godly habit.  The foundation from which all other right habits spring is this … laying your life down .. surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus.  You are in a  spiritual battle, the old nature against the new.  Make it a habit to put on the full armor of God and you will stand against temptation and the hardship that it brings.

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