Devotions by Pastor Dave Timm: Wednesday – November 4, 2020

By March 18, 2022 Uncategorized

Want to make a fortune?

One way that seems to work is to come up with the next diet craze. Then you can write a book, get some tv spots, and sit back counting your money from people that are willing to try anything to eat and still lose weight!

Years ago, I saw one eye-catching diet plan. It went like this:

If you are interested in losing weight, I present to you the incredible new “Loser’s Diet”. Just follow this diet and you are sure to lose.

Breakfast

1/2 grapefruit
1 slice whole-wheat toast
8 oz. skim milk

Lunch

4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast
1 cup steamed zucchini
1 Oreo cookie
Herbal tea

Mid-Afternoon Snack

Rest of the package of Oreos
1-quart rocky-road ice cream
1 jar hot fudge

Dinner

2 loaves garlic bread
Large pepperoni and mushroom pizza
Large pitcher of root beer
2 Snickers bars
Entire frozen cheesecake, eaten directly from the freezer

I assume you would say “sounds good but how can it ever work?” Well, there are a few Diet Tips:

  • If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
  • If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they cancel each other out.
  • When eating with someone else, calories don’t count if you both eat.
  • Food used for medical purposes never counts, such as hot chocolate, toast, and Sara Lee cheesecake.
  • If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.
  • Movie-related foods don’t count because they are simply part of the entire entertainment experience and not a part of one’s personal fuel.
  • Cookie pieces contain no calories. The process of breakage causes calorie leakage.

2020 has been like no other year, and yet some things never change. Wayne Rice wrote about this diet 25 years ago. It was a great conversation starter then…and it certainly makes us think about our Christian walk today. Many of us follow the above diet plan in regards to living for the Lord.

I think it’s fair to say that most of us try to live a Christ-centered life. We want to live for the Lord and to cut down on our sins.

I think that many of us start our day well with prayer, maybe a devotion or a Bible reading.

But then life happens! Bills to pay, people to interact with, temptations all around us, and things start to go downhill (we have blown our Christian diet).

So, when we mess up and fall short…now what do we do? Do we confess and start over, and get back on track? Maybe, but more likely, we start to rationalize our behavior. We say things like… “Well, if no one sees my sin, then it’s really no big deal.” Or, “If I sin with my friends then it’s okay because everyone else is doing it.”

That kind of Christianity, of course, is just as ridiculous as the “diet for losers.”

If you have ever been on a diet, odds are that you messed up from time to time. Let’s face it chocolate cream pie can tempt you to break your diet.

Well, the same is true in our spiritual walk. Temptations are all around you. When you mess up and get off track, do you own it or do you try to change the rules or rationalize why it was ok?

Before you sin Satan will say, “Go ahead it’s just a small sin.” After you sin he will say “you did that, God can never forgive that, you might as well keep doing it.”

I suggest that you need to identify your weaknesses, to confess your sin, to ask God to forgive you, and then ask God to help you to get back on track, to make healthy choices so you can accomplish His plans for you.

If you were on a low sugar diet, I don’t think it would be wise to window-shop at a bakery. If you were on an alcohol-free diet, I don’t think it would be wise to watch the OSU game at a sports bar…If you were on a vegan diet, I don’t think it would be wise to eat at a Brazilian Steak restaurant. It only makes sense to avoid temptations when you can.

So, I hope you realize…this devotion is not really about your diet, carbs, or calories. It is about living the best life that God created you to live. To follow His rules, not yours. To have a steady diet of God’s Word…prayer…worship…and a solid small group to have accountability in.

Adam and Eve had one rule to follow. That rule was there to please God, as well as to protect them from evil. God said: Genesis 2:15-17… The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Sounds simple enough, right? I mean God said to enjoy all of paradise but stay away from the tree of evil…it will harm you!

Well…we know that the story did not end well…. Their spiritual diet was broken so to speak. Genesis 3:6… When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

I don’t want to focus on the temptation to sin…but I want us to focus on their response when they sinned. Genesis 3:12-13…  The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Sounds like the silly rules for our “diet for losers” story doesn’t it. Adam blames Eve and God for making Eve…Eve blames Satan.

So, what do I hope you will glean from this devotion today? Sin is crouching at your feet! Satan will tempt you to question God’s rules and to make your own rules!

Once we break the rules, we will be tempted to blame others, rationalize why it was no big deal, compare yourself to others who you consider worse sinners.

  1. My goal for you is to take the time to sit alone with the Lord. Ask Him to guide you to accomplish His plans for you.
  2. Ask Him to help you assess those areas that you tend to bend and break His commandments to accomplish your will.
  3. Fill yourself with a steady diet of God’s Word. Exercise your mind with prayer, worship, devotions. Strengthen your heart with quiet time with the Lord.

Psalm 51:10-12… Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.