So I'm on a diet...

That's right, Dee has begun a new "health care program" so that means I am on a diet.  Actually, I have enjoyed the program and have seen excellent results.  I can almost see my clear six-pack again, and I am hoping to get a little more lean (and mean) as I continue the program.

Dee is my "life coach", as Advocare calls them, which basically means she tells me what I should and should not eat (or can and cannot eat).  She tells me when to take the supplements that Advocare recommends as well.

What I find interesting as I talk with people about a "diet" is that people always want to know what my "cheat day" is, or if I "cheat" on my diet.  Occasionally my family (even Dee) will say, "It's okay, yeah, that's not on your diet, but it's just a little thing" or "you can treat yourself to something special because you have done so well", or other things to the same effect.

The question is - if I really want to "change my shape" and get more healthy, who loses when I "cheat"?  If I am going to do the work to get the body that I want to have - meaning I sacrifice foods that I love for a period of time, work out to build the muscle mass I desire, etc - why would I want to "cheat" if it doesn't help me in my goal?

This has got me thinking about sin in my life.  It is my desire to be holy.  The desire is not as urgent as I would like, but it is ever growing. (Just like my desire to "get in shape" wasn't a burning desire until I began to see the results of the sacrifices and work I was doing.  Now I am more willing to do the work.)  I know that my ultimate righteousness is found in Jesus completed work on the cross, but my own sanctification process is still just that - a process.

Why would I want to "cheat" on my desire for holiness by allowing myself to "dabble" in things that will not produce the results I want?  Do I long for them?  Yeah, just like I long for macaroni and cheese, but I know making the sacrifice now will make it easier later.  Just like my appetite for certain foods has changed (I don't mind eating Romaine lettuce anymore - even though I tell Dee she is making me eat grass.) as I walk away from opportunities to sin, my passion, yearning, desire, etc for those things will diminish as well.

One would be a fool to expect to lose all of their target weight and gain all of the desired muscle in the first day of their diet, nor should  a follower of Christ expect to be "holy" as soon as they begin the path toward Christ.  It is a process.  It requires daily, even moment by moment discipline.  And it can be done.

Work now, and you will see the results later.  Cheat now, and you will see the results of that as well.