Food Pharisees

I know it may come to a surprise to my readers that I am just a little bit overweight. My slender looking picture (I have new glasses) doesn’t do my rotundity justice. I have battled obesity for nearly my entire life. Recently I noticed on my doctor’s chart (I was being treated for heart palpitations and high blood pressure) that I was characterized as “morbidly obese”. I was about to “let loose the thunder” (a wrestling term for whack…shamefully, I watched when I was a young kid) on my doctor for making such a cold value judgment on me until I came to the realization that the term was a wooden medical term for people of my size. Regardless, I have had victories several times not the least of which is the fact that I have lost over a hundred pounds twice and smaller but big amounts many more times. I have had losses as well as evident by the fact that I have gained at least a Brittney Spears and a half in the last ten years (not the teen version either!). While I know the sin of gluttony is a reality, I, like many of my readers, have disregarded it as not a big deal to God. In this piece I would like to throw out two random thoughts about dieting and how it relates to my faith. I am also asking for your prayer for my success in making healthy life decisions on my weight.
First thought… I am on the weight watchers diet plan. In this plan you eat what you want until you get to a prescribed number of points in a day (all foods are given a point value). What the diet often fails to address is the loopholes. Yes, sadly, I have become a food Pharisee. (Pharisees were Biblical characters who loved the letter of the Law but had a disregard for the spirit of the Law.) Jesus spent much of His ministry trying to change the hardened hearts of these people who ended up being a big factor in His crucifixion. Mathew 23:13 (actually, the whole chapter) summarizes Jesus opinion of people who write more and more rules to make themselves LOOK righteous (but work the loopholes) when He said “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”
What is a food Pharisee? A good example is Baked Cheetos. My diet says 34 Cheetos equals three points. It doesn’t say which size counts as a whole Cheeto. I carefully lay out my Cheetos on a plate and evaluate each ones’ merit. This little guy is a rebagger. This one is huge…eureka!!! This one is grafted with another one so I can safely call it one! This one spoons another one fitting like peas in a pod…I will call it one too! By carefully working the bag, I can milk out at least two or three ounces of free points.
Welcome to the world of sin. We have so dumbed down sin (breaking God’s Law) that we can justify anything. Take the Eighth Commandment from Exodus 20 at random. Thou shalt not Steal. Have you ever stolen anything in your life regardless of value? Coins from Mom’s purse (also breaks the 5th by dishonoring her)? Songs from the internet? Photocopied a copyrighted document? Goofed off on the job (stealing payroll time). The Pharisee in us says “No way, stealing is only bad if it is something big or important!” The Bible addresses God’s opinion of it when it says in Revelation 21:8 saying “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” One might say “How can “all liars” be lumped in with these bad sinners? My God would never condemn lying.” That same person in reality is breaking the Second Commandment which says “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” They have created a God they can be comfy with, not unlike a Hindu that carves out an idol and puts it on the mantle. God’s standard is perfect. It means exactly what it says, sans loopholes. No skirting it. No technicalities. Just what it says. Your and my response might be “With these standards of right and wrong and sin, we would all go to Hell!” Exactly! Have you heard of Jesus Christ? He died on a cross to take the punishment we deserved for stealing (and all the other sins). All we must do is repent of (turn from) our sins (the spirit of the law and the letter), and let Jesus Christ be boss (Lord) going forward. We must acknowledge that we are simply not capable of obeying His Law. You think we loophole our cheetos, evaluate your ability to keep the commandments. I would expect most in America could list more of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” than list Commandments, needless to say keep them. I stand guilty with you! Thank you Jesus for saving “a wretch like me”. My righteousness is “as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Whether it is food or sin, I join you in guilt.
Second thought about dieting/ obesity… While it is hard to keep in shape, it is God’s will for our lives. Our body is called “God’s temple” several times in scripture. I, like many, often fail to pray when things get tense in life, and, instead, resort to comfort food. Not an excuse, mind you, just reality. I have less stress than most! In my life, obesity has led to slothful living mentioned twelve times in Proverbs alone. It isn’t a term of endearment! My heart and blood pressure issues can directly be attributed to obesity. It leads to laziness at work, lazy parenting, being too tired to achieve excellence in most anything in life. I am enlisting your help praying for my ability and desire to fix this issue in my life. I will be posting my weight at the end of each of my columns for your amusement and accountability. (I started at 336 on November 13th and am at 331 today.)
If you don’t like my columns, feel free to send a bag or two of regular Cheetos…I’ll donate them to the Ministerial Alliance. God Bless and happy dieting!