Never? No, Never!

 

Never?  No, Never!

 Just two weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection of Christ.  Why did Jesus come to earth?  Why did Christ arise?  Why did God make us?  Of course, the answer to each question is Love, because we are loved--unconditionally.

 What’s your trigger food?  What sets up cravings in you so that you eat far more of that food than you need?  For me, it’s sweet, fatty foods.  Through the years I have eaten pounds of cookies, cake, brownies, pastries, and ice cream. I’ve eaten three or four slices of pizza at one sitting.  When the binge was done, and I laid my head on my pillow at night, I hated myself and vowed, “Tomorrow is going to be different.”  But tomorrow was never different.  I just went right back into eating my trigger foods and binging.

One night I came home after binging, sat on my couch, and sobbing, cried out to the Lord, “No more, Lord.  No more.  No more sweet, fatty foods.”

 Since that night I have turned down desserts, pizza, and pastries.  Oh, I am not a monk.  I have to have dessert.  I make my own pudding; I eat yogurt with fruit and nuts, I make a good dessert with sweet potato, honey and cinnamon.  In the summertime, every once in a while, I get a soft ice cream cone--and eat it very slowly.

What has made the difference?  Grace I know.  But that’s not the main idea of this blog post.

Finally, I realize even when I was in the midst of daily overeating and binges, God loved me.  I had grown up hearing that I needed to earn God’s love.  It has taken me a long time to accept the opposite--God loves me, plain and simple.  Nothing can steal the Divine One’s love from me or you, and we don’t have to earn it.  Paul tells us “…in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39 Anselm Academic Study Bible).

That concerns me about us overeaters.  Too many of us think God stops loving us if/when we overeat.  Nope, nada, doesn’t happen--not ever.  God loves us--always.  Let’s focus on that truth.

 

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty

Not Bread Alone

It is Holy Week, and our minds turn to thoughts of Jesus and His final days on earth. Today we remember His Last Supper with His disciples. The bread and wine they shared was a holy meal representing Christ’s body which was to be broken and His blood which was to be poured out of His wounds.

 

Jesus made the unleavened bread significant, never again to be just the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. It became a meal of remembrance for all time. The taking of the bread and the cup is sacred to believers who partake.

 

Jesus spoke of bread early in His ministry. He spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert fasting, being tempted by the devil. Jesus was hungry, and the devil called Jesus to turn rocks into bread to satisfy His hunger.

 

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” (Matthew 4:4 NIV).

 

We may also be tempted by bread. Most commonly we are tempted by luscious leavened bread, fresh from the oven. But Jesus reminds us that it is the Word of God that satisfies and nourishes us. 

 

This week let us remember the significance of bread in our lives, not the physical temptation that calls from our stomachs, but the body and blood of our Savior that was given for our salvation. 

 

Gloria D. Stewart