Oi Vey #1. Today I looked down and there was a definite roll on my mid-section that was NOT there yesterday. HOW did that get there?? Did I REALLY eat that much yesterday? WOW. I mean, I run regularly, eat pretty healthy. But this ROLL?? I don’t even have “post-pregnancy baby weight” to blame. Bugger. That is #OUTOFCONTROL. I need self-control.
Oi Vey #2. I’m not generally horrified at the thought of my own sin. I tend to take it in stride, asking forgiveness, asking the Holy Spirit to make my ears and spirit more sensitive to His Voice and to keep these hands clean. I was reading in Hebrews this week and was reminded of Esau, “who sold his birthright for a single meal… afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” If I’m reading this correctly, there are things that we just plain have to suffer the consequences for? I admit, I tend to use my grace card too freely… I play like He will clean up any/every mess I have with no dirt to touch my pristine little self. While he DOES clean up that sin part… He oft-times allows me to suffer the consequences, with a little grace added in to make my character prettier in the process. Reading this verse was horrifying to me: Here was a fella who made ONE mistake and it changed the course of his life. And looking through Scripture, there are other examples of people who made just ONE LITTLE MISTAKE and it SHIFTED the course of their lives… most notably? Eve. One bite of an apple and all humanity is torn. I am scared to death of the ONE mistake that will keep me from the dreams He has for me. No matter how strong I am, I can always fall.
So HOW do I keep from that ONE bite that puts me over the edge? (Side-note: It’s interesting that both of these examples involve food.)
Obedience to His Voice. Accountability. Character/Self-Control.
In Titus the main exhortations to women of all ages include a healthy dose of self-control. My conviction meter is running overtime. I’m definitely ticketed for over-indulgence… and the payment due is a few more laps on my local running track and a lotta saying “no” when I’m full. Meditating on this today and yesterday I just started to weep at my callous approach to this “pet” sin… maybe Esau had a habit of allowing food to control him. Maybe this last offense, where he offered up his future for a meal, was just the latest in a line of many over-indulgences. He allowed food to reign in his thoughts. It took the place of his God-given destiny in his affections. It is CRUCIAL to His dreams in me that I develop patterns of rock-solid self-control, rooted in His daily grace.
So here’s to rooting in grace… running the race so as to WIN the prize! Self-control, here we GO!!
Annetta
