The Jesus diet

Beep beep beep beep.......snooze.......beep beep beep beep. Feet hit the floor and you take your stroll to the bathroom and you look in the mirror, little extra belly flab exposed  from your shirt. Not feeling the best you step onto the scale. Sigh. Making your way into the kitchen you have time to grab a bagel or the powdered donuts  left over from a week ago. Time for a diet. Now if you're like most people you see that little extra flab and start this revolutionary diet to lose the weight and return to normal eating habits once you reach your goal.

I see a similar trend in the church. We see the flab, the flaws or needs, and we start the diet. We go to church and get our fix. We show up and try to cleanse ourselves of all the carbs, sugars and fats. Some may even begin this spiritual anorexia where they starve themselves  in order to be what they desire. Or spiritual bulimia where they gorge on spiritual meanings and church systems.  We get on the new workout or diet bandwagon until we see that piece of cake or side of French fries.

In reality the carbs, sugars and fats are not bad for us its about context and moderation of a balanced diet. Just as the dancing, alcohol, and "secular" music are not bad for us it's about context and moderation of a balanced life.

The key to a balanced life is not extreme dieting or cutting out all sources of carbs. The key is moderation and making it a lifestyle. When you treat the church as a diet there is no change, no lifestyle. When you treat the church as a diet you're only using it to get what you want out of it:weight lose vs a lifestyle of living a healthy life. 

So don't suffer from spiritual anorexia, don't deprive yourself of living a balance life. Don't  gorge yourself on the churches systems and regulations. The church is meant to be only a supplement to main thing:Jesus. Jesus the picture of God who paints a picture of how I want to live life.