Week #19: Take Up Your Cross

I used to think there was no escaping the allure of food!

I've said this before, but I am so thankful that my friend Sara gave me the book "Loving God with All Your Mind" by Elizabeth George when I first started on this journey of TSFL.  That book really helped set my mind on what is TRUE.  I think that is one big reason that my outlook has been so good for 19 weeks.

Last night I had the privilege of listening to a sermon by Curtis Allen, a Sovereign Grace pastor at a church in Riverdale, MD.  Curtis has all the passion you would imagine a black pastor to have--and I hope I don't sound racist in saying that. (I was just telling Dan that I wish we were as expressive about our joy in the Lord as those who attend Brightside Baptist here in Lancaster city!)  But Curtis is also overweight and is very vulnerable in sharing his struggle with eating to his congregation. 

I cried.

Obesity is a place where hopelessness loves to dwell.  We need more men and women of courage who are willing to step out and say, "This is/was me!  But no more!  Because I have HOPE!"  We all need hope in the hopeless places.  And the only hope is really Jesus.  Oh, yes, Take Shape for Life is a wonderful tool and I am proud to be part of it!  But this journey is about DAILY taking up my cross and following Jesus.

The cross is not a glamorous thing.  The cross is cruel, actually.  But when the cross was set in front of Jesus, in that moment, he chose to obey His Father. 

And I must choose to obey the Father, too, in the area of my eating.  I must learn the privilege it is to deny myself.  The glory that there is in living this life with my mind set on Christ and not on this world.

If I am going to follow Jesus, then I am going to suffer.  I am going to carry the cross for the rest of my life.  And that cross is heavy sometimes.  That cross is HEAVY. 

But is denying myself the right to eat or drink whatever I want, whenever I want, really suffering? 

I think it is.  It IS denying myself...and that is the first thing that Jesus says to do before you take up his cross. 

Matthew 8:34-35“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." 

Listen, there are days when I am too tired to fight.  There are still days when I don't feel like I  have the faith to go after this.  I don’t want to deny on myself.   It would be easy to just go back to my old way of living.  That would be very easy. 

Curtis Allen says, "We can tend to rely on grace to forgive us.  But grace is not just there to comfort us when we do wrong.  It is not a consolation prize when we fail.  Grace is a weapon. It is a weapon so that we don’t fail!" 

I must arm myself with the same way of thinking.  (Not feeling!)  I have the weapon of grace at my disposal--to KEEP ME from failing! 

To deny ourselves means that the battle is going to be between "how I feel" vs. "what I think."  That’s the battle.  So, I need to learn to think on Truth. 

The exciting news is...I will learn how to truly obey God when I don’t give in to the allure of food.  And that's just one more great thing that's happening on this journey. 

Don't you love how I started out just wanting to lose weight, but now I am gaining infinitely so much more!!! 

I must lose my life, in order to save it!