My parallel

When I talk about my world with Crohn's disease and or with a strict diet I often talk about how difficult it is to eat and live the way I know that I should to best help my body.  Recently I have been talking about this and realized how similar it all sounds to my spiritual journey. Paul talks in Romans 7:15-16 and says this:

I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.

These verses could just as easily be talking about the way I should be eating and taking care of my body as they are about sin specifically.  I have come to see that my struggle with eating is the same as my struggle with sin.  They are both struggles of this world and of the flesh I was recently on a mission trip and a doctor on our trip referred to our stomachs being our god.  This has really hit home for me. I grew up in the church. I know all about the Ten Commandments and the first one being "..have no other gods",  I began to see that my stomach was a god. Was I putting it before God? Maybe, sometimes. I don't really know the answer. But I do know that my stomach was something in my life that controlled my choices.  Directed my paths (sometimes literally). When it growled or had a request...I submitted. Even though sometimes that submission would cause the rest of my body great harm. In verse 16 it says "But if I know what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good."    After I have given in and submitted to my stomach with things that I shouldn't, I feel guilty. I regret that decision. Yes, sometimes it is because of the physical result of my choice, but sometimes it is because I just simply know better. I beat myself up because I know I should have chosen differently.  That tells me that I agree that there is another way, a better way. Paul goes on in Romans 7:17- 20 to say: So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to, I am not really the one doing what is wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Paul speaks here of the sin that lives in us.  These verses could leave me feeling pretty hopeless.  Both for my sinful behavior in making my stomach a god and in other sins.  But Paul goes on in Romans 8:5-8 and says this:
Those who live according to the flesh, have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh can not please God.

This tells me that through Christ in me I can make different choices.  I can choose to make healthy food choices and respect my body as the temple it is.  I can choose to make God my God and not my stomach. Without Christ in me there is no fight.  Our flesh wins. But with Christ, I have the power of a resurrected God living in me that allows me to choose a different way.  

The same goes for other sins. Be it lying, stealing, gossiping, shows that are bad, losing my temper, etc etc. We/I can choose to live differently because of Christ in me. Is it hard?  Yes. How do we live and make choices of good health in a world that is full of bad choices?  

I struggle constantly with trying to not be consumed with thoughts of food, both healthy and unhealthy food, but everywhere I turn is food or events that require food.  We live in a society that is centered around eating. I want to make good choices, I need to make good choices, but it seems like such an uphill climb.  So I compromise... SIGH. I eat a bite of the ice cream. Or salad dressing with sugar in it. Or corn tortillas. I hate myself afterward.
"I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate."

It is a journey that I pray gets easier.   The burden that I bear is not too much because I do not fight alone.  Christ walks and fights with me. So whatever your struggle is....whatever the sin that entangles you is (Hebrews 12:1) know that there is a God who will walk with you. He will hold you in your struggle and forgive you in your sin. You do not have to journey alone.