"It would be refreshing to hear someone stand in church and proclaim I’m lazy. I've compromised."
Before you can begin to make decisions, you have to get honest with yourself. God detests religious jargon. It’s a cover up, the propaganda of the heart, and we use it all the time. I’m struggling, is about as misused as truth in the National Inquirer. If you are struggling, you’ll win. It would be refreshing to hear someone stand in church and proclaim I’m lazy. I’ve compromised. I’m blowing it. That is the kind of humble honesty where we can begin to move forward. The prophets in the Old Testament were honest to the point of crassness when exposing Israel’s sin. Repentance is the most powerful form of decision, but there can be no repentance unless first there is honesty.
If someone were to ask a compulsive eater if he desired to eat two chocolate bars a day for the rest of their life, the answer would be of course not. Those who wrestle with compulsive eating, in their heart of hearts, would be abhorred at the thought of such an indulgence. Yet, if someone were to ask a compulsive eater if they wanted to be free from food addiction, filled with the Spirit, content and joyful, they would receive an emphatic, yes, it is my heart’s desire. It is a desire that lives constantly inside, even during those painful times of indulgence.
But to say that the compulsive eater does not want the chocolate bar would be untrue.
Compulsive eaters do not continuously hunger for junk food. The temptation for the compulsive eater comes like a powerful tornado in the soul, an intense microcosm of flurry, whipping up emotions and inspiring an imagination of pleasure. These storms have triggers. A bad day at the office, a hurtful word from your spouse, depression, loneliness, fear, insecurity, melancholy, a feeling of being out of control. They create an environment where Satan is able to move in with His seductive promises of fulfillment, trying to force you to make a decision which will empower him to control a part of your character, expressed through behavior. They leave as quickly as they come, leaving an aftermath of guilt and despair where we are left with picking up the broken pieces, trying again to rise, bringing some semblance of order to a life torn by chaos.
I want more control over my diet. I want to lose weight. I want to quit drinking coffee. I want to watch less television. Or on a grander scale, I want to be more like Jesus. There is a place in every authentic Christian’s heart that earnestly desires to be free from sin. But it is not enough, because there is a war being waged in your members and an equally powerful desire to eat, watch TV, drink coffee and indulge in this world. And so, you do the things you do not want to do and the things you want to do you do not do. A compromise between the two desires of the heart is not the answer. So how can I be successful in making a decision and seeing it through?
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