Water, Water Everywhere

(**My comments on how Romans 6 relates to compulsive, overeating.)
Romans 6
"So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good?"
 I have thrown away the sweets, sugar, and carb-filled snacks from my pantry and I stay in the healthy sections of the grocery store and avoid the aisles that are loaded with added sugar and processed foods.
"That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country."
 This new country, this new grace filled walk means that I need to take care and honor God's gifts and blessings - including my body.
"Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word." Wow! Sin (overeating, numbing out because of fear and discouragement) speaks a language that I cannot understand! It is God's word that brings light and comfort and I need to surround myself with the Truth!
"You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life."
 The MSG version brings such good light to this verse: For me it means- don't even get in the car to run "errands" when you know you really want to get sweets or take out.
"Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer."
 When it comes to eating healthy, plan healthy meals and shop once a week - with a list. God's way of providing food and water in the wilderness is a good example. Eat until your stomach is full and stop.
"You're living in the freedom of God. What Is True Freedom? So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act."
 Giving yourself "freedom" to eat foods that you can't stop eating means the beginning of pigging out. Until you are strong enough, don't do it! Stick with health foods.
"But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do."
 Even though an abusing, controlling parent was the main voice that brainwashed your mind with Satan's lies - as an adult - it is sin's voice you accept and follow when you binge.
"But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had?"
 The more Satan's lies filled my mind, the more I tried to numb the pain with food. Now, God's love and truth is shining through and I can't go back to the darkness!
"And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end."
 It got me to obesity and poor health!
"But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise!
A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death.
But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master."
(**My comments on how Romans 6 relates to compulsive, overeating.)
 Lord God, thank You for Your salvation. Help me to listen to Your voice only and ignore the voices of the past, the person I see in the mirror, and look only to You and Your grace. Light my way through this new life with your Word. In my Redeemer's name I pray, Amen.