On the fringe of starting a new way of eating I decided to have McDonald's this evening. It might possibly be one of the last times I ever eat from McDonald's too. McDonald's has been a favorite of mine for years, but recently I have not really felt the call to partake of their offerings. Tonight I gave in for nostalgic reasons. I even got a Big Mac, which I rarely do, but just had the taste for some special sauce. I did order the Mac with no pickle, as seen on the grill ticket stuck to the box. That grill ticket means that whoever prepared the sandwich knew that it was a special order. You can also see by the inset picture that they put pickles on it anyway.
No big deal. I just picked them off like I normally do, but it does make you wonder how much people pay attention. Maybe they were busy, looking forward to a break, thinking about issues at home..... Who knows? Maybe they just made it as always and totally overlooked the special order. For whatever reason the Big Mac was made differently than ordered. No hard feelings. Just an observation.
So many times we just do things that we have always done. I've done it several times over the past few days on a particular piece of equipment at my job. They changed a timing issue on an activation button that I have pressed a certain way for 15 years and no matter how many times I remind myself I still find that I revert back to muscle memory that I think is guided by my subconscious.
I think we do that in our spiritual walk as well. We allow our flesh to creep back in and all of a sudden we are hitting the button at the wrong time again. Thing is that we do recognize our error and correct it. But it does seem like those same old habits are hard to put to death for good. For that we need a new set of habits and the only way to train ourselves those habits is to continually do them. Do not over correct though, which is another problem in itself. That will put you in the other ditch opposite the one you just crawled out of.
We must always keep focus on Christ. When we waver is when we lose sight. I do it too often and end up beating myself up over falling back into the same routines and sins. "If I could only get rid of this sin I would be okay" is what I think each time I regress. I often forget that it is a grace of God that He shows me when I do sin. I also forget that it might be my thorn in the flesh, something to remind me of my need for God and to keep me humble.
As I will embark on a new lifestyle of eating I am sure that I will have times when I feel bad for eating what I shouldn't. I know that it will be a struggle in some areas. I know that I have failed before and that is why I am in need of correction yet again. But I know, most of all, that I have God on my side this time whereas I never did in past "diets". I totally relied on my willpower and self discipline to lose pounds. I had a very narrow and selfish reasoning to lose weight. This time is different in many ways. I have a true relationship with God now, He has given me a determination like never before, I am motivated by higher means than myself, the program I will be involved in will have kingdom focused results.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment