The Original Allegory

I've been wading through the amazing book, Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. The man called "Christian" sets out to find the Celestial City, leaving everything, even his wife and children behind. He runs into one obstacle after another. He gets discouraged, tempted, and distracted. He makes one or two decisions that later give him regrets. He nearly gives up the goal of ever getting to the Celestial City. He's captured by a giant and tortured. He almost drowns in a river. His friend and companion is killed. But he finally does reach his destination.

The book is an allegory about man's quest to reach Heaven, but there's so many examples that remind me of another quest; mine to lose weight and gain better health. Just like Christian, every day of my journey I'm met with roadblocks, temptations, discouragement, and doubts that maybe I never will reach my goal. But fortunately there seems to be some little spark inside that keeps me pressing on.

Like Pilgrim, I believe in my heart that the goal is attainable. As with Christian, there is an enemy that desires my failure and who will pull every trick he knows to stop my progress. And some days, maybe most days, I am my own worst enemy.

Pastor's sermon today was about our bodies being a temple. I jotted a few notes and Scripture references on my bulletin. I wrote,

"Ro 12:1-2, present our bodies as a holy and acceptable sacrifice; Ro 8:22-23, we suffer and groan in these bodies as we wait for our new ones; 1 Cor 9:27, I need to be a tough slave-master of my body, disciplining it into submission and not allowing it to rule the roost and have it's own selfish way; 1 Cor 6:12, don't be mastered by things that do not edify, things that are not profitable; 2 Cor 10:15 take every thought captive - learn to say no; Ro 6:12-13, don't allow sin to reign in my body."

Today's message seemed like an arrow aimed right at this issue of discipline with my diet. Not only do I want to lose weight for my health and self-worth, God wants me to be healthy, and keep His temple in good condition. The desire of my heart is constantly foiled by the desires of my body, and too often it wins the battle. I need to learn to be tough and say no to those lustful thoughts toward food I don't need, toward second helpings, toward high fat and high sugar foods that satisfy for a mere moment in time. Being overweight is not edifying nor is it profitable. Getting to a healthy weight would make my life so much easier and better. And I'm on my way down! Tomorrow I'll journal a bit about the progress I have made.