TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. |
I read an article about a personal trainer who had a lot of overweight clients. He had always been in great shape and never had struggled with his weight or with overeating. Yet he had clients who struggled. Finding it hard to sympathize with them, he decided to gain 70 pounds so he would know what it was like to have to struggle with weight.
The trainer chronicled the process on his website, including a “before” picture of himself in perfect shape. Then he started eating everything in sight. For breakfast he had kids’ cereal. For lunch, he ate corn dogs and everything else he could think of that would cause him to gain weight. For dinner, it was fettuccine Alfredo.
He said at first it was kind of exhilarating, because for the first week, he was eating like crazy but not seeing any effects on his body. He was still looking really good. But then, after a couple of weeks, the first to go were the abs. They sort of disappeared. Then rolls of fat started appearing. He began feeling lethargic and dull and depressed. When he started making his way back to his former weight, he said it was a lot harder than he thought it would be.
What a perfect picture that is of what it is like to fall into sin. At first, as you go back to some of the old ways, it might even be a little bit exhilarating. You think, “Wow! I did that and nothing happened. I got away with this, and the world didn’t end.”
But then the problems come. Then the depression enters in. Then the repercussions are there. And you find yourself wondering how to get back to where you were before.
Ezra 4
Psalm 113, 127
Luke 9
Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.