Make me stop … I won’t!

“Should the federal government regulate sugar?”

That was the brief discussion the news broadcasters were discussing on a local radio station this morning.

It was raised after the publishing of a new report highlighting the dire (nearly toxic) effects of sugar on the human body.

The discussion was accentuated with the statement of a researcher who believes we are reaching the worst health catastrophe in world history.

Why?

Largely because of what and how we eat.

Yep, we’re doing it to ourselves.

We stuff ourselves with food that is bad for our bodies. We know it’s bad for our bodies. “But I like it!” we say, and continue eating ourselves into serious — even life-threatening — health conditions.

We do the same spiritually.

We hang onto certain sins that feel really good to us. “But I like it!” we whisper to ourselves, and continue on, doing what we know we shouldn’t do.

For our health — both spiritually and physically — we’ve got to ask the question: “Where’s the self-discipline?”

Self-discipline is that unique trait where a person finally pushes back from what is bad for him or her and says, “No!” And the Apostle Paul says it’s a characteristic exercised by those who follow Christ …

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

Notice Paul also says we have power — power from Christ who lives in us. But in order for the power of Christ to enable us, we have to do our part also. We have to stop stuffing our bodies with junk and thinking God will supernaturally turn the junk into something nutritious for our bodies.

And at some point, we have to behave, also.

Taking care of our bodies, and living for Christ, both take a consistent application of self-discipline, the doing of what we know we should do … whether we like it or not.

Do that long enough and your body will learn to yearn for nutritious meals and will become queasy at the taste of junk food.

Do that long enough and you develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and you become queasy at the taste of the unholy.

What self-destructive behaviors do you still have in your life that you need to practice greater self-discipline over? How can greater self-discipline in your life open the door for greater power from God in your life?

Scotty