The devil walked in to work this morning with a made-from-scratch, fudge-brownie pie! OK, it wasn't the devil...it was Susan...and the pie, by the way, was mauvelous.
One of the facets of last Sunday's sermon was discipline. Ouch!
I have gained more than a few pounds since arriving in TN. It's discouraging and I can make all the excuses I want, but the bottom line is, I haven't been practicing discipline as I should have been. Our office staff likes to go out for lunch...let's see...the chef salad or the cheeseburger?
Bob and I are trying to eat at home more and go out less. Going out is sooo easy (especially with Bob and I both working now), and there are so many wonderful restaurants to choose from here. But, you have no control over how the food is prepared and I rarely make the right choices at a restaurant. Would you like that fish broiled, baked or fried? Duh!
I'm trying to operate in discipline! Maybe a more positive statement would be, "I will operate in discipline!" I'm believing that I'm going to be a size 6 in Heaven and, Thank the Lord, we won't even know what a calorie or fat gram is!
I've been drinking a lot of water! I'm currently reading The Seven Pillars of Health. Dr. Colbert says to take your weight and divide it in half to determine how many ounces of water you should drink a day. I can already feel the positive benefits. There is a small gym at our new apartment complex; Bob and I are looking forward to integrating "working out" into our day...Heaven, help me!
If only discipline had only to do with food & exercise!
I can think of several areas of my life in which I need to implement more discipline. Even though I think I know what I need to do, I've asked God to reveal specific areas. It's easy to make a list of things we need to do because it would enhance our lives. It's also easy to become overwhelmed and give up before we even get started. I should know, I've done it a million times!
Paul said in the book of Romans, 7th chapter, (Amplified version)...
18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
19For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
20Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [[c]fixed and operating in my soul].
21So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
22For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].(D)
23But I discern in my bodily members [[d]in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [[e]in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
24O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?
Even Paul admitted that we are humans and make mistakes...even to the point of sin. He sums up his woes by saying...
25O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord!...
Looking to and trusting God day by day, hour by hour & moment by moment is the only true way to achieve discipline. Thank God, He will deliver us through Jesus!
Whatever it is, we can do it!
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