His Best

His Best

Recently, I became acquainted with the writing of Barbara Taylor Brown, an Episcopal priest.  She writes that God loves all of me—every wart, wrinkle and fat cell.  That is, He loves my flesh as well as my soul and spirit.

Hm, you say, “But you haven’t seen my body.”  Doesn’t make any difference.  He loves every inch of us.  And why wouldn’t He?  Because He loves us, He created us; we are His. True, Scripture tells me gluttony, which is a type of greed, is a sin:  Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity or greed among you.  Such sins have no place among God’s people (Ephesians 5:3 New Living).  But would overeating be a sin?  Does it offend God?  Hurt Him?  I don’t think so.

I am no theologian, but these are my thoughts on those questions.  You probably agree with me that because He loves us, God wants only the best for each of us.  One aspect of being our best is to be healthy.  And how often does the medical industry tell us that being overweight causes cancer, heart problems, strokes, etc., etc.  Obviously, being overweight is not our best.  Medicine continues by telling us that to live healthy we need to exercise, rest, and eat healthy.

So maybe God, in His wisdom, calls overeating a sin because He wants His best for us and His best for us includes being healthy.  The Scripture verse Gloria responded to at the beginning of this month tells us how to do that: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV)

So we can achieve God’s desire for us to be the best we can be through God’s power, the power of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                                            Sharon Witty

                                                                                                            April 20, 2018