"their god is their belly"...

"For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." Philippians 3:18-19

Whoa. Our whole small group was talking about this verse last week. Ok, so our small group was really  small, but we were all talking about it. We are reading the book "Made to Crave" and this verse was in one of the chapters on growing closer to God. It's something I've thought about for a week and a half after our discussion. 

A good part of our discussion about the verse was did the author of the book take it out of context. Could it really mean that we allow our stomachs to control us? Surely not. Surely the author is just trying to get us thinking about our food choices, I mean that is the point of the book. Right?

Well how about this one about food choices...

"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 knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.' Genesis 2:16-17

So then what happened when Eve decided God really didn't mean exactly what He said?

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from trees in the garden, but God did say 'You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die'. "You will certainly not die", the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". Genesis 3:1-5

So she ate it.

And we (ok, I) eat whatever our stomachs tell us sounds good in the moment.

So right here, right now, I'm back in. Back in remembering that my body is the temple of God. Remembering I am in no way honoring it when I feed it anything besides food, real food. God designed my body to need certain things like nutrients and vitamins to work properly. If I'm feeding it anything other than that, I can't function in the way He designed me to function. And I need to function to go out and make disciples, to love others, to be a mom, and countless other things. And if this weren't enough, take my other small group of ladies, we're reading "Kisses from Katie". This week we were reading about children, about people, literately starving to death, while I'm all over here needing to lose a hundred pounds. That should break our (my) hearts. Seriously. 

God really did say we would let our stomachs rule us. (Eph 3:18-19)

God really did say we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)

God really did say that a fruit of the Spirit is self control. (Gal 5:22-23)

God really did say that our body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

God really did say to love others like we love ourselves. (Matt 33:39)

God also says I'm forgiven, I am loved, I am His child and I with Him I am an overcomer!

(Rom 3:24, John 3:16, 1 John 3:1, Rom 8:37)

I will be far from perfect. I will enjoy celebrations.  Please hold me accountable. Please don't tell me I'm taking it too seriously. Don't tell me I'm making something out of nothing. Because to me He seems pretty serious about this.