I Scream: We Only Struggle With What We Give Into – Purity 1383

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the setting sun illuminating the clouds on the horizon of the hill off of Freedom Road comes to us from yours truly as I captured the scene while out walking with my canine friend Harley Saturday evening. There are two trees that stand out in my stand out in our favorite walking place. The one at the end of the line of that gravel road is what I have become to think of, or what I have come to think of, as the Tree of Life. As I thought of that long stretch of road as a metaphor for life, and even thought, and even though Freedom Road dead ends, the Tree of Life is waiting there to welcome you home at the end of your journey. The tree in today's photo is the other one. While it is impressive and beautiful, there is no path to it, no established path anyway. And while you could think of it to be the Tree of Life because it would lie at the end of a path, quote unquote, less traveled, I think it better represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as it is beguiling, but it is also surrounded by land that is often flooded and unhospitable. Although there is no path to this tree, the trip is not difficult. The way is clear, but it's out of the way and hemmed in by the natural and man-made boundaries of the land. The trip is short but sort of pointless, and depending on the day, you may end up with your feet wet. It's a nice tree to view from a distance, but there really is no point to visiting it. I think of it as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or or at least I have this morning, because it promises you something worthwhile from a distance but lets you down when you get there. Just like Adam and Eve probably wish they had feasted on the fruit of the light— fruit from the tree of the light— fruit from the tree of life instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you're better off staying on Freedom Road's sure path to the tree that lies at its end. Than going off-road to the, to the tree on the hill. Anyway, that's a lot of tree talk. Anyway, it's Monday, and as we begin another work week and the last week of June, I am recovering from some poor food choices and I'm ready to get on the sure path of wellness. Yep, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, but if you have become aware of the insidious nature of food addiction, you realize that certain foods need to be avoided if you want to to be free. I have been pretty willfully unaware, or I just don't care, as of late with my food plan. So willfully unaware or apathetic that, if I'm honest, I would have to admit that my behaviors reveal there doesn't seem to be a plan at all, or I'm following a general set of principles that are regularly being violated by fleshly indulges— indulgences that sabotage any consistent efforts at health and wellness. The slippage has been significant as of late, and I am going into my 52nd birthday on Tuesday with the realization that I'm living in an insanity of my own choosing that is betraying my health goals. There's grace for that, right? Right. But be careful in how you dispense it to yourself. Grace was a costly gift from God that was given through the death of Jesus on the cross. And when we take our sins lightly and refuse to take them seriously, or fail to be convicted by them to repent, we have to realize we have cheapened grace. And perhaps even worse, we're doing so because we are in bondage. I think I might have continued in my fleshly indulgences in the name of my quote-unquote birthday week, but yesterday while I was in the midst of finishing off the last of a carton of Stewart's Cookie Dough ice cream for dinner, I was watching a webinar from Renovare, a conversation with Mimi Dixon and Richard Faustus about their books Worth Celebrating and The Celebration of Discipline and their experiences in spiritual formation. In the conversation, Dixon recalled an interaction with departed spiritual formation legend Dallas Willard, where Willis assured her that he too had his struggles with sin and had, had to come to know his weaknesses and temptations quite well. And the only difference in his success and maturity over them was that he had learned to see those temptations coming from a long way off and learned to simultaneously combat them and turn his attention away from them, saying something to the effect of making agreements or choosing the things that keep us in bondage. The truth of Willard's statements about sin and volition hit me like a ton of bricks, sort of like when the prophet Nathan slyly confronted David about his sin: "You are the man." As I struggled to finish the last of the ice cream, I realized that I had either been deceived or had deceived myself, or even worse, just betrayed myself and had been unconsciously or slowly yet deliberately let my guard down. And have compromised my convictions and essentially given up the fight to be free in this area of my life. Freedom is not doing whatever you want. Real freedom is doing that which is best, choosing your best options for physical, spiritual, and mental health and wellness by seeing your sin from a long way off, like that tree up on that hill, and choosing not to go there. But we did go there, and as much as I don't want to beat myself up for it, I also don't want to blow it off to the point, uh, that I don't stay awake to what I've learned. Food addiction is a continual battle, and it's a world war because the whole bloody world is against you. Obesity is an epidemic. The World Health Organization reports that worldwide adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled. In 2022, 2.5 billion adults 18 years and older were overweight. Of these, 890 million were living with obesity. In 2022, 43% aged 18 years and over were overweight, and 16% were living with obesity. These are not encouraging numbers. And while we may want to go save the world, we have to save ourselves first. And the battle starts with awareness. I have become aware of how my flesh, the world, or the enemy has enticed me to turn a blind eye to my health again. And now it's time to stay awake and to continue to fight the good fight by saying no to the things that I quote-unquote struggle with. We only struggle with the things we give in to. A simple fact. So what's the simple answer? You may have guessed it. We don't give in to them. Ever. I'm free of alcohol and drug addiction since 2015. Why? I trusted the Lord to help me to get set free, and I no longer give in to their temptations. Similarly, I'm free from sex addiction, sexual immorality, masturbation since 2018. Why? Again, the Lord helped me to get free, and I no longer give in to lustful temptations of the flesh in regards to sex. So figuring out food addiction has been difficult, but I know that ice cream is definitely a problem substance for me. So how do I get free? Oof, that's right, ask God for help and stop giving in to the temptation that ice cream brings. Moderation doesn't work for the addict, and so I think that might be it for screaming for ice cream. We only struggle with the things we give into, right? So let's stop the struggle by not giving in ever again. I'm going to have to look at ice cream the way I look at booze or sexual immorality and say, "I'm done. No thanks." I'd like to be free and stay free. I can get— I can see those things coming from away, uh, from a long way off. I just have to decide to stop going there. If you have issues with food, there's only one answer: do something to change the way you think and relate to the foods that destroy your health, and make a plan to change the way you live. Lean on the Lord to give you strength, and you can overcome. Today's Bible verse, this, uh, comes from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on Example, Good or Bad. And today's verse is 1 Timothy 4:12 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says, let no one look down on you for— on your youth— let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity Show yourself an example of those who believe. Today's verse falls under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Example . And that first point is: Be a godly example for others to follow. Today's verse encourages us to be real Christians, to walk the walk and to talk the talk of faith and purity. My testimony is one of struggle, but also one of victory. I am not perfect, and I am not an expert, but I refuse to let anyone look down on me because I know my self-worth comes from God. And I will endeavor to do His will until He calls me home. I will do my best to represent His Kingdom in speech and action and will seek to be an example to others of God's amazing grace and power. Sure, I am a work in progress, but what great progress I have seen and experienced. And it's all because I have followed God and his ways for life. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotion, he prompts us to read a chapter of the New Testament And today's chapter is 1 Corinthians 10, and from that chapter he shares portions of verses 8 through 10, which say, nor let us commit sexual immorality, nor let us tempt Christ, nor complain. And Stephen Alford writes, there are three sins pointed out in these verses that called down the judgment of the Lord upon those old pilgrims. The sin of indulgence: they committed fornication. Their vile passion changed the natural use of their bodies into that, into that which is against nature. The wages of this sin was death. The sin of infestation: they tempted, tested, or tried the Lord. This was a deliberate transgression of the commandment, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God," Deuteronomy 6:16. The wages of this sin was also death. The sin of ingratitude. Of all sins, this is the worst. It is the sin which the devil introduced to Eve when he said, "Hath— has God indeed said?" , casting a doubt on the goodness of God. Thus the Apostle says, "Do you despise the riches of his goodness?" You are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Romans 2:4. The people of Israel murmured against God's goodness and they perished. And Stephen Alford ends in prayer by praying, Lord, keep sin far from me. All sin. Every sin. Amen. Amen. Yes, keep sin from you, all sin, every sin, even, even the sins that aren't so apparent, like sins of the flesh, overindulging, gluttony. Gluttony is a sin. Yeah, it's one of the seven deadly sins anyway. Yeah, and it's, it's a pandemic, it's an epidemic in our, in the world apparently, as obesity is doubled since 1990 and quadrupled in adolescents since that time. So it's something we have to be aware of. It's something that I became aware of as I saw my aging father, you know, struggle with pain, and in part because of his weight. And when I saw that, I saw the writing on the wall. This would be your life if you don't change. And that conviction You know, that conviction, you know, coupled with the fact that I was leading a recovery program caused me to treat my food addiction as an addiction last year. Right? Last year? Yeah, last year. And I've had great victory over it by losing, you know, about 40 pounds through exercise and eating well. But lately I've been struggling. I haven't been diligent in my food plan and I've been giving into the flesh, and yesterday I had a real wake-up call as I was shamefully eating a whole carton of ice cream for dinner and realized this isn't really the best use of this food, you know, this isn't how I should be doing this, and it convicted me. So I'm convicted to change, and I'm gonna do so. So, you know, just like people and places and things with ice cream, I'm just gonna, you know, I ain't got, I don't have any reason to go into Stewart's, really. I can get groceries elsewhere, I can get gas elsewhere, and you know, I think I just have to say no to ice cream in general, ever, you know. You know, that might seem like crazy, but an alcoholic says no to alcohol and they don't call him crazy. You know, "Oh, come on, surely you can have a drink." I'm like, "He's an alcoholic." What are you, nuts? You can't let the guy have a drink. So think of me as an ice creamaholic, I guess, because that one's been on the stronghold list for a long time, and I just haven't, you know, in my stronghold buster it says I must cease from these foods altogether, and I haven't ceased from it. So I've been going against my own efforts by surrendering to it. You know, the occasional indulgence, sure, but You know, just like, just like when I tried to quit drinking, I could occasionally have one or two beers but then would end up in a drinking binge. The same thing happens with the ice cream. Occasionally I could have, you know, a reasonable amount of ice cream, but then I end up eating a whole carton. Um, this is my addictive nature. This is what I see in myself, and it's something that has to change. So I don't know if that's how you are, but that's how I am. And, uh, I know the Lord can help me be free because he set me free in other areas, and I just gotta, you know, shore it up and do what's right. So, um, we're doing that. But before that, we have to work today. Um, won't be having any ice cream at work, so it shouldn't be too much of a struggle. Anyway, um, sort of out of time, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've You've done for us, for how You set us free. And Lord, we're leaning on Your strength again to get set free, to choose the Tree of Life instead of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, uh, that could, you know, give us lots of, uh, give us lots of knowledge but doesn't give us life. And we want Your life, Lord. So help us choose that by doing things Your way. But we need Your help with this, and so we're praying for Your help. We're also praying for anyone who's listening today, that you come alongside them, their prayer requests and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, Lord. And so we pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go. So all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, and we need your power and strength to, to do anything. We're asking it for today, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.