"Losing Weight"

Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins, Slim Fast, Trim Spa and the list goes on. Everyone wants to lose weight, I have to admit, so do I. I have finally decided that I am tired of considering myself “fat”.

I have made up in my mind that I need and want to lose weight. For the longest time, I have been saying “I need to lose weight”, but until I decided to do something about it my talk was cheap. Now don’t get me wrong, I just started trying to eat better, and so forth. I realized really quickly, it wouldn’t happen overnight. After all, I didn’t gain these unwanted pounds overnight, did I? 

Seems like everyone wants to lose weight and there is a never ending string of commercials on TV, radio and advertised on the web of different products offered to make that desire possible. There are shakes, pills and foods that promise to help you shed those unwanted inches in weeks or even days. There are workout videos, gyms on every corner and all type classes offered in effort to help us “slim down” and get in shape.

I have seen people try everything from surgery to body wraps all in an effort to get thin. It all made me think, if society is so eager to put off physical weight, why aren’t we just as fervent when it comes to getting rid of spiritual weights? So I started studying to see what the Bible says about weights.

A weight is defined as the quality of heaviness, a burden, pressure, to oppress or make heavy. It is also something that is hard to lift, hard to do or hard to bear.

Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV) says “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  I noticed here that the scripture separates weights from sins. So I thought, does that mean that a weight doesn’t necessarily have to be a sin? What type things cause heaviness in our lives? Those things we may do, say, or hold onto that keep us from living the best “God-kind” of life.

It may not be a sin to only eat nothing chocolate cake everyday at lunch for an entire year, but sooner or later you will begin to see the results of this habit and heaviness will set in. The scripture says weights and sins, easily ensnare us. This says to me that, there can be times we are trapped in a situation before we even realize what has happened.

I remember becoming friends with a certain person years ago. I felt we had so much in common, and that they were really cool. I thought they had my best interest at heart. I trusted them, to a fault, and began hanging tight with them. Soon lunches turned into car rides, turned into dinners, turned into skipping work, church and other obligations to “hang” with my “friend.” And before I knew it bam I was totally ensnared, wrapped up, tied up, and tangled up in a mess I never intended to get into.

I needed a way out, but get this… “I didn’t realize it.” I was too caught up in “having fun.” My innocent fun had become a weight and then turned into outright sin. You see at first it wasn’t sin, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, initially. But the scripture says in Galatians 5:9 (NKJV)A little leaven, leaven’s the whole lump.” When I looked up leaven I found several interesting terms that are synonymous with leaven; principal agent, ground work and the most interesting one to me, foundation.

What I take away from these terms is simply this, since leaven is an agent, such as yeast, that causes batter or dough to rise, especially by fermentation. And fermentation means to spoil, rot or die, isn’t it clear that little things, things that seem minor or “okay” can blow up into situations that can kill our spiritual lives. So you may say, “We’re friends we can hang out late, it’s cool.” Or “we just kiss and hold hands,” how about, “we’re dating because we have history, sooner or later because I’m saved; he or she will get saved too.” Watch yourself because it could only take that particular scent to spark your memory, or curiosity and you will go from looking at the “cake” to tasting it. You could end up being driven out of the church by the very one you are trying to lead in.

In my case, I would say “hey I’m cool as long as I go home, repent and give it my all on the praise team Sunday.” But I was ensnared. I had allowed myself to be tricked by…myself. It wasn’t all the devil’s doing, nope. Part of it was simply my flesh. Wanting to explore, searching for fleshly satisfaction outside of God’s word and will for my life.

I remember the day I sat down to write a play, and I couldn’t. My weights had turned into sins and the anointing was gone. I thought, “what’s wrong with me?” “What have I done?” Was the “fun” I had been having worth losing my relationship with my God? I recalled Galatians 5:7-8 (NKJV) which says “You did run well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Vs 8 this persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”

I knew who had hindered me, me. It was time for me to lose weight. Now I’m no diet expert but I know what it takes to lose weight, especially spiritually. First, I “ran” straight to the alter and “squatted” down on my knees in the prayer of repentance! Next, I had to change the way I “ate.” It was time out for “fast food”, meaning five minutes prayers and reading half a scripture a day wasn’t enough. I needed “sit down, well prepared meals,” where I could take time repairing my relationship with the Lord. Finally I had to continue “exercising” my faith and “walking it out” by living according to the Word.

I’m not perfect by any means but I am striving to do God’s will and live a Godly lifestyle. Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This introduces us to our personal trainer. Jesus, He can help you start and finish your work out on this treadmill of life. He has already carried all the weights and sins imaginable, so why are we trying to do over, what He already did perfectly? Don’t allow others or even yourself to become weights in your walk with Christ. Eat the Word that comes forth from your man of God at your local church. Snack on the scriptures regularly. And the next time you feel heavy, bench press those spiritual weights and sins right out of your way. THINK ABOUT IT.