I struggle with my weight.

In recent years I kept getting heavier and heavier. Even though I’m careful with what I eat. Especially during the week, but over weekends my self-control slips a bit.

I’ve thought about this a lot and tried to find out what I was doing wrong. I suspect that one of my biggest mistakes is that my ‘full’ button is broken. This weekend on Saturday evening I went to watch the Springboks with my pal. I had already eaten and wasn’t planning on eating more. But there was this enormous bowl of dried sausage right in front of me. Just an arm’s length away.

Taking the first few pieces, I warned myself to take it slowly. Well! Needless to say, I polished that bowl virtually on my own. And that with an already full stomach. It’s that broken ‘full’ button that caused it!

Totally fed-up with myself, I made an appointment with the lady who knows all about food and how you should eat it. She explained about carbohydrates, starch, protein and fruit and that you have to eat a portion of each every day. With a lot of emphasis on a portion.

It was like a whole new world. I realised that I had grown used to a way of eating that I enjoyed, but was not necessarily good for me. The result of this way of eating was definitely not positive. I grew my own little roll around my waist that made me feel distinctly uncomfortable. I struggled to tie my shoelaces and quickly became out of breath. My cholesterol went through the roof, and with it came a high risk of leaving this earth earlier rather than later.

I took a stand and decided it was time for new things. And no, I did not go on one of those diets where you eat grass and leaves like a goat and get that far-off look in your eyes when you walk past the fridge. The food lady simply taught me about the right food at the right time in the right quantities.

But let’s be honest, it wasn’t easy. And I did slip up now and then. But it was more than worth it. These new eating habits make me feel good. I have lots of energy again. Life is beautiful.

In the same way, we got a new way of living through Jesus. We actually got brand new clothes to put on. ¹⁰Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. 

God pulled us up from the mud and said it is time for a new life. A life where our energy will be renewed and we can sing out loud and get up in the morning with a smile on our faces.

In this Scripture, we learn that the life in dirty clothes that we have gotten used to is not the standard. There is another, much better life.

O, I wish I could say it was easy to put on the new clothes – but it wasn’t. Just like I longed for my old life of eating a lot, one longs for the old life in the dirty clothes. But fortunately that feeling gradually disappears, because the longer you experience the new life, the more energy is released; and the closer you grow to God, the better it becomes.

Scripture

Colossians 3:9-11

Reflection

What do your clothes look like?

Why?

What must you do differently in your life?

Prayer

Father, You want us to live as a new person. You want us to get away from anything that is bad for us. Please help us to distinguish between your will for us and what is not good and real. Please help us to long for what is good. Amen.