No matter how simple the plan, making your way through the eating day is still fraught with unexpected challenges and sudden lapses. Probably the most devastating is when you’ve successfully followed your plan all day; then, at the very end, an inexplicable moment of weakness hits and you start searching the cupboards. In the face of such failure, the overeater must not lose hope. Some days will be confusing and difficult. Yet, on other days, everything seems to come together. We can’t expect to be perfect, but we can keep trying to make increasingly better choices. No one said it was going to be entirely smooth sailing. There will be stormy days and sudden squalls.
Despite the best-laid plans, food temptations can still catch you off guard. Without warning, the thought of eating something delicious overtakes your mind, and you can’t set it aside. The thought comes with flowers and a cheery smile. It says to you, “A bit of food could liven you up … Go ahead, celebrate a little…Loosen up and enjoy life … You deserve to take a break … You’ve been under a lot of stress.” The excuses for eating are endless. We succumb far more often than we like to admit.
The classic religious struggle is between good and evil, which can also be stated as: the way of God versus the way of temptation. Some people believe that God deliberately tempts us in order to test our obedience to his will. Others believe that an evil power has a hand in even the small temptations of life. For many believers, both of these attitudes have given way to a prominent belief that God created a world in which we have freedom to exercise our free will. Our imperfection guarantees that we will have to battle with the temptations that arise out of our natural tendencies and our human selfishness if we are to succeed. Happily, the struggle and growing allegiance to God’s way make us strong and thoroughly loyal.
I don’t think it’s helpful to castigate yourself for disobeying God when you transgress your eating plan. You don’t want to create a feeling of separation from God over such a small matter. It is true that you’ve settled on a plan with God through the insight gained in prayer. We’re sure that God wants us to be healthy and free of this temptation. But God also knows we are imperfect and that we take two steps forward and one step back as we progress. He is not shocked and angered by our predictable, mortal failings.
In my younger days, I tried vowing to God that I would follow my eating plan perfectly, and I managed to do so—for three whole weeks. Then, something threw me off track and I had a big relapse. So there I was, mad at myself for cheating on my plan and feeling estranged from God. The parental nature of God probably smiled and caught me as I fell. He knows that the making of vows, which we are not mature enough to keep, is bound to fail. He knows our weaknesses, but he wants us to get back up and keep on trying. Failure is part of the learning process. We fail as we move forward.
Don’t waste time and energy by feeling guilty about transgressing your eating plan. Arrogant willfulness and stubborn resistance to God are the major problems that threaten your spiritual life. Overeating pales by comparison to those temptations. Confess your failure, pick yourself up, and dust yourself off. Renew your dedication to God’s will by opening your mind to his presence. Then recommit yourself to your eating plan.
I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?
Psalm 101:2a
