Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tipping the Scales

I've always known I was fat.  But I've also known it's never been as bad as it could be.  For instance, I am over the legal limit, but technically, I'm not in karaoke territory.  Sometimes I've wondered if that doesn't make it tougher for me to watch my weight.  I mean, it could go either way.  At my funeral, you could be satnding over my casket saying, "Wow, she really did let herself go," or I could fly out of here a "10."  Either way, I watch my weight, believe it or not.  As long as I can still walk in a pair of jeans without setting my thighs on fire, I'm pretty good with that.  I try to eat right; I exercise.  But I've learned the hard way, that one careless encounter with Butter Brickle can wipe out a week's worth of walking.

A similar principle exists in our spiritual lives as well:
"One day of lean can eclipse months of fat." 
One wrong word can ruin month's worth of witness. One misdeed, especially in this "Big Brother" world of ours, can go as viral as a "Talking Dog," and ruin a once glorious testimony.  One day without devotion can open up the flood gates to waves of doubt and misinformation, and let out wisdom and discernment.  One day without prayer in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, can ruin days' worth of fervent prayer.  One choice made without Our Dear Savior in mind can ruin year's worth of preparation for the future and can put us on a track opposite God's plan.

Spurgeon shared his experience in his devotional on Genesis 41:4 --

PHARAOH'S dream has too often been my waking experience. My days of sloth have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry; my seasons of coldness have frozen all the genial glow of my periods of fervency and enthusiasm; and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances in the divine life. I had need to beware of lean prayers, lean praises, lean duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat up the fat of my comfort and peace. If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to which I had attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages in my soul. When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms of worldliness, and the palmerworms of self-indulgence, lay my heart completely desolate, and make my soul to languish, all my former fruitfulness and growth in grace avails me nothing whatever. How anxious should I be to have no lean-fleshed days, no ill-favoured hours! If every day I journeyed towards the goal of my desires I should soon reach it, but backsliding leaves me still far off from the prize of my high calling, and robs me of the advances which I had so laboriously made. The only way in which all my days can be as the "fat kine," is to feed them in the right meadow, to spend them with the Lord, in His service, in His company, in His fear, and in His way..."

"Dear Jesus, increase my desire and discipline for Your glory. Keep me from choosing that which does not honor and glorify Your Holy Name. Keep me from holding onto that which was crucified with You; take it from me that I may never call upon it in place of You again. Thank You."



Time for some sit-ups, or some pasta -- now that could still go either way.

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