Warring the Sinnabon

If there be a man before me who says that the wrath of God is too heavy a punishment for his little sin, I ask him, if the sin be little, why does he not give it up. – Charles Spurgeon

An informative read for sure.  My food radar is definitely up as I scan menus and ingredient lists.  I am not unaware of the food industry’s schemes! More importantly, I’m tuned in to the mental rehearsal and intentional planning that is essential to maintaining a healthy weight.  I know that haphazard eating, without thought to the stimuli-response-habit cycle often result in overeating.  

Soon you’re inventing excuses for pursuing reward.  “I’m entitled to this…It will cheer me up…I’ve been good this week…I can eat just a little.”  In a series of small steps, you put yourself into a position where it becomes easier to access a reward, an internal battle begins (“Should I eat this or not?”), and your determination to say no eventually buckles.

…For others, the greatest challenge comes after reaching their sought-after weight, when they recognize that their struggle will never be completely over and that the battle with conditioned hypereating is lifelong.  Accepting those realities helps to keep you vigilant. -pp. 232-233

The slave to sin/hostage to overeating analogy was inescapable. Justifying the “little” sin snack. The internal battle-I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate. Feeling entitled to “just a little” sinful pleasure. Realizing that sin keeps us trapped by its fleeting “rewards.” Moses lived it for us.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the children of God, rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Both my dear friend Julia and a committed co-worker have lived this war in the past year.  Looking for a greater reward, they demonstrate unceasing vigilance to overcome.  Each has lost >80 pounds.  Both have confided that they see the battle against overeating will require lifelong vigilance.  Their reduced calorie diets, minimal sugar and refined carbs, and self-control are not temporary, but new norms.  

I’m getting it, too. Behind C. H. Spurgeon, who knew

The reigning power of sin falls dead the moment a man is converted, but the struggling power of sin does not die until the man dies.  

With Oswald Chambers, who knew

Life without war is impossible whether in nature or in grace…Health is the balance between physical life and external nature, and it is maintained only by sufficient vitality on the inside against things on the outside.  

There’s really only one way out of bondage.  In all the tantalizing forms Overeating and her sneaky, spiritual cousin Sin take, defeating them requires embracing at least these two truths: 

• the short-term pleasures of partaking are just fleeting compared to the eternal reward. Yup, as I inhale the aromatic scent of the Cinnabon, I must think: A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.  Delightful going down, but not so much 730 calories later.
•  that epic victory and real freedom are simply impossible without war.  I realize I’ll have to fight the Sinnabon until the day I die! It’ll be easier to resist the more I do, but I’ll probably still be tempted decades down the road. 

When the grace of God appears, he teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passion and lead self-controlled upright and godly lives as we await our glorious Hope.  In his marvelous, matchless grace, our Lord Jesus  promises us even greater rewards when we keep fighting the good fight, with his mighty power- our “sufficient vitality” at work within.   

Death to the Sinnabon!