The other month, my mom brought up the fact that my dog no longer likes green beans and specific vegetables that she once loved. Immediately I knew the reasoning to her change in food preferences... it probably had a little something to do with the fact that I had introduced her to cake and icing, as well as other sweets and other forms of junk food. My dog now knows that there are yummier options in food than vegetables, and she’d prefer the ones that smell and taste good even if that means physically putting on a couple extra unwanted pounds.
After realizing this, I was thinking to myself how personally I struggle in the same way, not only with literal food, but with sin and spiritual food as well. What I mean by that is that it’s easy to do good or follow religious laws etc. when that’s all you ever knew to do from a young age, that’s how you were raised. Whereas if you were raised in sin, you probably prefer where you’re currently at over wanting to follow rules and basically go on a spiritual “diet”... why would you want that when the things you have right now taste, look, feel, and smell so good.
There is a problem with both of the scenarios mentioned if they are being enforced merely on the strength of a man alone. In other words my self righteous attempts to do good, be religious, change, and live for God on your own strength. The young child who grew up praying with their parents and reading the bible and had the ten commandments posted on their wall is no greater spiritually than the one who never heard of Jesus and is partying every night and coming home to a broken family in the morning. Yes, God’s laws are to protect us and does form a healthier lifestyle for even an unbeliever, but without a relationship with the Holy Spirit, in the end life will fade away, and there will be no reward in heaven.
For me, I relate to the child who grew up in a christian family and did my best to be “good” and acceptable to God. I did all of the christian things and from the world’s viewpoint I was probably a pretty good person. There were so many sins I swore I’d never deal with or fall into. The problem with me saying I’d not fall into those things was that I was self righteous and relying on my own strength and law to fight temptation. I got pretty far in life being a “pretty good“ person, but I broke when my little box that I was living in fell apart. When my comfort zones were invaded and I lost people around me. I started to question if what I was living for (christianity) was really worth all the extra effort, if it really meant anything at all. So my once self righteous person began to look around at what the enemy had to offer, and to be honest it sounded pretty sweet to someone struggling.
This is where the food ties into the analogy. I grew up being used to eating fruits and vegetables, and had a relatively balanced spiritual diet. If you’re raised to be fed the good things that are sustainable for your body and soul, they will likely taste good and desirable. But nobody can live in that self discipline all their life without the help of the Lord... because we live on the earth which is ruled by satan. He will sooner or later throw temptation your way and try to deceive you. Even if you grew up eating healthy, he will one day... at your weakest moment, wave some cake in front of you and try and convince you that it’s much better than what God has to offer you. He wants you to believe that a little sin can’t hurt anything, a little junk food here and there is ok right? So now you chose to fall into deception or attempt to do what’s right on your own.
Back to me- sadly I listened to the enemy for so long. At first it was just the “harmless” sin that has no effect on me or anyone else, or so I thought. Welp... believe it or not, I ended completely falling deep into so many things that I once swore I’d never deal with. I was not only having a little dessert here and there, but pretty much threw out all of the vegetables that once sustained me because it is so much easier and more tempting to eat dessert all day than to discipline yourself to eat healthy or be good. Why would I want to go back to God now. Just live it up and keep listening to the enemy right? He’s not harming anyone...that is the bighest lie ever used by satan. ”it’s harmless”. When I was living with satan in control and doing the things that felt right, that is when I was swallowed in so much depression, anxiety, hatred, fear, regret, and soo much more. These things had me in over my head but still I had no desire to go to God because the enemies lies are so very decieving.
Just like if you’re used to eating junk food all the time and one day try hard to be healthy or want to eat healthy, it’s likely not going to work. You can suck on that tomatoe for as long as you want, and it’ll never taste as good as those pringle's satan is waving in your face, so why bother with what deep down you know is right? That’s kinda the way my brain thought of life for a while but finally God showed himself to me and helped me realize that I am incapable of forcing myself to like being “religious” when i’m living in sin apart from God. He showed me that I cannot transform my soul, and that I don’t have to try to on my own power. He sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper on the earth. He wants relationship, not rules and hypocracy. He showed me that in order to be set free from the strongholds that I allowed the enemy to have over me, I needed relationship to come in and self righteousness to leave. The Holy Spirit is the one who can change the desires of your heart and fight against your fleshly desires, flesh cannot fight it’s own flesh because if the spirit is not involved, in the long run flesh will win and the result is not rewarding in any way, shape, or form. Apart from God we can do nothing, nothing lasts, nothing satisfies. He knows best and does not want you to try and shove laws down your throat to make you look like a better person, He wants to come into your heart and transform your desires to give you new life. Life that is refreshing and rewarding and glorifying to Him. He is so worthy of your submission!
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