Gluttony

(The following is an edited excerpt from the (free) The Lord's Table course I have been involved to help me overcome gluttony in my life!)

One of the problems among Christians today is that very few are willing to say that the act of overeating is sin. It is socially acceptable to overeat and so most would rather say that overeating is a "weakness," or a dietary problem that may be corrected by changing foods, a glandular problem, or that we simply "have a big appetite"...etc.

Overeating is a sin for the following reasons:

• Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). God is not glorified when I evidence a lack of self control in my eating habits.

• My body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:17, 6:19). The temple of God is not to be destroyed or defiled. Overeating or other sinful eating habits defiles the temple and if continued in can lead to its early destruction.

• Sinning leads to slavery (John 8:34). Overeating, like any sin, becomes addictive and may be extremely hard to overcome.

• Jesus told us to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23) and Paul told us to crucify the desires of the flesh (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). To overeat is to gratify the cravings of the flesh, rather than to crucify them. This is sin. However, we are not at all saying that it is sin to eat when hungry. What we are talking about here, gluttony, is the habit of overeating and indulging our flesh, not the necessary requirement to receive daily nourishment for our bodies when we feel hungry. Food is not evil. Eating is not a sin.

• There are many passages of Scripture which speak of the sin of "gluttony" and instruct us to avoid the path of the glutton (Proverbs 23:20-21) and to "put a knife to our throat" if we are given to gluttony (Proverbs 23:2). (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gluttony as "excess eating.")

In Acts 3:16-18, we see that repentance opens the flood house of God's blessing as it brings not only glorious refreshment from the Lord, but Jesus Christ Himself.

You see, if we fail to call overeating sin, we miss out on the blessings of repentance. Why not call overeating by the biblical term of "gluttony," so that we will see the need to repent? And, as we repent, we will experience such sweet refreshment from the Lord, such satisfaction from the Lord, such enjoyment in the Lord, that we will wonder why we weren't ever told this truth before.

Repentance is that which causes me to do a full turn away from overeating or any sinful eating habit and a full turn towards the Lord. In practical terms, it means that I have been looking to food to supply something that has been lacking, and now I turn away from overeating food and, instead, look to the Lord to meet that need. We mourn that we have hurt the heart of God by sinning with food and we may even weep over our willful and stubborn pursuit of satisfaction in food. Our sins not only pierced the heart of Jesus on the cross but, when God grants repentance to us, they also pierce our hearts, and our hearts become torn over our rebellion. But oh, what joy comes when God enables us, by His grace, to turn from overeating to seek the Lord. We experience the refreshment of God’s grace, the renewal of His love, the joy of His fellowship. Oh dear ones, I pray you will see the amazing value of repentance.

At The Lord's Table, we are not into a 60-day diet plan, pills that guarantee weight loss, programs that focus on food, or methods that require us to count calories, fat grams, carbohydrates or sugar. We are about calling ourselves to repentance from habits of overeating, about setting forth Christ as our soul's satisfaction and about developing habits of eating in a disciplined manner. If satisfaction in Christ and self-control would become the habit of our lives, we would see the blessings of God being poured out on us. In Christ there is joy and heart satisfaction, spiritual refreshment and renewal, and we "eat in plenty and are satisfied." Yes, repentance brings refreshment!

www.settingcaptivesfree.com/lords_table

Don’t Let Your Guard Down

Today I have been humbled in the most unexpected way! If you listen to Christian Hip Hop, you would have heard about Cross Movement Records artist, The Ambassador’s moral failure. Now before I continue, I do not want to gossip about the issue or judge Ambassador for what has taken place. My heart and prayers go out for him, his family and his church! I pray by the grace of Jesus Christ that there will be healing that comes from repentance and that this will lead to his restoration! This all really and utterly breaks my heart!

What I would do, rather, is share with you how complacent I have been in my faith and pray that it makes us all look at ourselves and realise that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)! Often we do not realise that this Christian life is a battle, like Ephesians 6:12 puts it, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” The life we are living is a war against the devil and his dark forces. And because we cannot see the demons, we carry on like they are not there! It is time to wake up and to be on guard.

To see our brother Amba get taken down by the enemy really shakes my faith! I look up to this man (even now) and saw him as an example of the way I should go! Now I question myself. Can I make it through? Do I have what it takes? If he can fall, then I must be doomed? These are the questions that I had running through my head today and I really hope they are running through your head now! Friends, this is not a joke, the Bible tells us to, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). I had lost this fear and trembling! I go about my day without real thought about the battle and I am caught, like so many people, in the day-to-day things in life that I fail to take a step back to take stock. I forget that I have to be sober, be vigilant; because our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). We are so quick to notice someone fall but fail to notice that we are right on the edge of doom ourselves!

We need to look to Jesus! We need to individually, fight the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life, to which we were also called (1 Timothy 6:12). We need to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). Practically this means taking time out regularly to see where we are spiritually, how much time do we spend with God (reading the Bible, praying, worshipping), who are we accountable to, making sure that we are constantly fleeing from temptation and repenting (turning away from sin) when we mess up.

There are three things that I have learnt from the events of today and they all apply to all of us! Firstly, it could have been me! It is only by the grace of God that we are where we are in our lives. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Therefore, we have no right to feel self-righteous because God is sovereign over our lives! Secondly, we have to look to Christ and not to man! People will always let you down, and if you let other people and their actions determine your faith then your faith is in the wrong place! “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Christ alone should be our only standard that we look to! Any other standard is not high enough. Finally, love those who fall! We live in a generation that loves to see stars rise so that we can watch them fall! That is evil! We need to love those that have fallen! We need to pray for them and hold them up because who knows, next time it could be you! Above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)

Ultimately, we need to keep our guard up by relying on Christ! We have no idea what is coming around the corner. Only God knows what trials we will face but if we have confidence, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6), then we should have no fears. Don’t let your guard down, this is a race. Please keep your eyes focused on Christ the King!

25 Random Things About Me

1. I am an introvert! But I'm not shy!

2. I have watched and enjoyed 2 seasons of the Gilmore Girls with friends (who wish to remain anonymous).

3. Sometimes I feel like a nomad, I’m always moving from one place to another (not always by choice)!

4. I have been DJing since the age of about 10!

5. I once wanted to do drama in university! I wanted to be an actor. But, being African my dad said NO!

6. When I’m by myself I am a very serious person and I think a lot!!! I don’t think I even smile when I’m chillin’ by myself.

7. I believe family is the most important gift from God! I would die for mine!

8. The number 25 is so far off and I don’t think I can come up with anything else!

9. I am random and spontaneous!!! I love trying new things at least once, except for swim in the shark infested waters of Adelaide.

10. I love singing!!! Especially when worshipping God!!!

11. I have a tattoo and am considering getting two more!

12. I am a tech geek! I like to know what the latest developments in technology are! I’m a bit behind these days but only because of fiscal reasons!

13. I’m secretive!!! I keep things that are very important to me close to my chest!

14. I love babies but I am officially not a baby person because they cry when I hold them! But I look forward to the day I become a father!

15. I’m really bad at staying in touch with people!

16. If my house was burning down the three things I would take with me is my NJKV Bible, my laptop (because I have sermons on there) and my PlayStation 3 (for the same reason)!

17. I hate flying, its just stressful, but I love visiting new places and travelling!

18. I love long distance driving, by myself! It’s peaceful and relaxing and the feeling of escape is fantastic! An 8 and a half hour drive feels like only 2 or 3 hours.

19. I write a journal but I never read over it! I don’t see the point of reading it, I already know what is in there!

20. I am an entrepreneur! I am always seeing new potential business ventures!

21. I’m proudly Zimbabwean! I don’t like it when people talk ill of my country! I know there are problems and my heart is to see them get fixed.

22. I would love to drive a Bugati on the Autobahn. No speed limits baby!

23. I hate maths!

24. I am an African Metrosexual! Which means to an African I’m a metrosexual and to a metrosexual I’m just plain African!

25. I am addicted to BBC, CNN and Cartoon Network!

Home Alone

This week I’ve spent most (like 90%) of my time at home. There are several reasons for this, firstly my doctor recommended that I take it easy and not walk unless it was absolutely necessary because my knee is still painful and it needs time to rest and heal. Secondly, I don’t know anyone in Adelaide who I can just randomly chill with during the day, in the middle of the week. Lastly, I don’t know what there is to do in this place. But the time home alone has been painfully interesting…

I cannot remember the last time I spent a week in near seclusion with nothing really to do (except for unpack, but that doesn’t count coz it’s so boring). I’m glad that it was only for this week and that next week the real estate course starts and it will be full stream head from there. However, I can say that when you are left with no one but yourself (and God) to chill with, you get to see the real you. The you that you don’t really want to see, (the) that is why you keep yourself busy, you. It’s pretty confrontational! Like I mentioned in my previous post, you are now face to face with your flaws and fears and there is nowhere to run. It’s like the movie Home Alone but instead of running away from and tricking robbers, you are the enemy. It reminds me of that popular secular quote, “You are your own worst enemy”.

I needed this week! We need to be able to identify the issues within ourselves if we are ever going to be able to make steps to fix them before we try take on the rest of the world. If your life is always too busy and you can’t spend even a few hours by yourself (without TV, books, computers, etc) then you need that time. Maybe that is why we accept so many of the world’s social issues, we try to keep busy so that we have an excuse to ignore it or expect someone else to deal with it, yet we are so profoundly excellent at identifying them. Well another popular quote would be, “Charity begins at home”. How can we fix the world’s problems if we do not take care of our own first? My biblical reference is Luke 6:42, "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.”

This week for me has helped me identify the planks that are in my eyes (so to speak) so that I can better see the rest of the world (call it 20/20 vision). It’s so easy to see all the specks that are out there and ignore our planks. What is the speck or plank that you have lodged in your eye? Who are you when you all by yourself and cannot hide behind your friendships, personality or your vocation? If you are always looking out and noticing the problems of the world and don’t want to look at the own state of your heart, then what you are doing is in vain! I’m learning and we all should learn to spend time with ourselves, catch the thoughts that go through our heads, the attitudes that we ascribe to, the prejudices we justify. Is this who you want to be??? If you are happy then there is no need to read on...

After some reflection, if this is not who you want to be, then there is only one sure solution! If you are a Christian, you should turn away from (repent) of those attitudes and thoughts. Ask Jesus for forgiveness and ask Him to renew your heart and mind! If you are not a Christian (or you call yourself one but do not really love Jesus) you are probably sick and tired of the person you really are behind closed doors, when you are home alone. Jesus can change you. Most importantly, you cannot change yourself! It is our sin (i.e., selfish living, etc) that separates us from Him, which according to the bible (Romans 6:23) leads to our death, both physical and spiritual (eternal) death. He can remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Jesus is God, He came to earth born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect life that we cannot live and was murdered (crucified) by us, for all our sins (including our bad attitudes), and died the death that we should die. Because He was perfect (lived a perfect life without sin), death couldn’t hold Him so He raised up on the third day, defeating sin and death for us, forever! That is the good news of the love of Jesus! It is a free gift from God open to ANYONE who receives it!

Jesus can change you! I am a prime example of God’s mercy and forgiveness. I am far from being perfect as I saw clearly this week but I know I am totally different to the person I was 3 years ago! It’s a process and I would not change this for anything! The fulfilment I get from God by far surpasses all the cheap thrills I used to run to years ago! Now I can do a week home alone, 3 years ago I couldn't do 3 hours.

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Isn’t it funny how uncertain life is, often you look back and you wonder how you ever got to where you are. The funny thing is that most of the time we never see things coming. At the beginning of this year, while everyone around me was making New Year’s resolutions I sat back thinking how is life going to surprise me this year. My gosh, this year (so far) has been nothing as I expected it to be and i'm sure there are plenty of surprises on the way.

When I look back at last year, it was a year that was riddled with many happy and sad moments that took me by surprise. We have to realise that things in life are always changing, friends come and go, happy and hard times come and go, things that initially bring you joy become a source of pain and situations that once comforted you make you writhe with unease.

Therefore, as I look into the future I wonder what tomorrow brings. Part of it scares me as disappointment is always around the corner, and guess what? You'll never see it coming! One thing realised is that breakthrough is right around the corner too. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that even though things are always changing, God will always be the same. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Knowing that God is always for me and that His love is unconditional and never changing. Knowing that Jesus has a plan for my life that includes all the hiccups, highs and lows keeps me on top and optimistic.

So, as change comes, all I can say is “Bring it on!”

Obedience or Mere Excellence?

I've been reading "Everyman's Battle" by Arterburn & Stoeker, which is a great book that focuses on the battle that men go through to acheive and maintain sexual purity. I came across a passage that I found really profound. While this passage focuses on sexual purity, the principal can be applied in all areas of our Christian walk! Have a read:

Why do we find it so easy to mix our standards of sexual sin and so difficult to firmly commit to true purity?
Because we're used to it. We easily tolerate mixed standards of sexual purity because we tolerate mixed standards in most other areas of life.

Excellence or Obedience?

Question: What's your aim in life - excellence or obedience?
What's the difference? To aim for obedience is to aim for perfection, not for "excellence", which is actually something less.
"Wait a minute!" you reply. "I thought excellence and perfection were the same thing."
Sometimes they appear to be. But mere excellence allows room for a mixture. In most arenas, excellence is not a fixed standard at all. It's a mixed standard.
Let us show you what we mean. American businesses are in search of excellence. They could be in search of perfection - of course - perfect products, perfect service - but perfection is too costly and eats into profits. Rather than be perfect, businesses know it's enough to seem perfect to their customers. By stopping short of perfection, they find a profitable balance between quality and costs.
To find this balance, they often look to their peers to discover the "best practices" of their industry: How far can we go and still seem perfect? By how far can we stop short? Businesses find it profitable to stop short at the middle ground of excellence because perfection costs too much.
But is it profitable for Christians to stop short at the middle ground of excellence where costs are low, balanced somewhere between paganism and obedience? Not at all! While in business it's profitable to seem perfect, in the spritual realm it's merely comfortable to seem perfect. It is never profitable.
Clearly, excellence isn't the same as obedience or perfection. The search for excellence leaves us overwhelmingly vulnerable to snare after snare since it allows room for mixture. The search for obedience or perfection does not.
Excellence is a mixed standard, while obedience is a fixed standard. We want to shoot for the fixed standard.

Don't Fade, Faders!!!

As most of you who know me would know about the word that is loved by a few and hated by many.... Fade! I feel that this word is greatly misunderstood and it is my responsibility to take you back to school on this topic.

Fading is the verb, the noun is fader, and the adjective is fade. For example, "You are such a fader; your fading was done in true fade style".

Now, many people have different definitions of the word fade and I guess that is where the problem comes for those who are not well versed in the colloquial terms of the ebonic demographic.... So I'll help by giving you a general but not a totally exclusive definition of a fade. You have a fade when you have an expectation of a commitment and when that commitment is not fulfilled! The ambiguity arises in the definition of specific commitments as this is a very subjective parameter, as what maybe a commitment to one may not be a commitment to the next person but that person can is still qualified to be a fader. Fading is only judged by the person that used the word. For instance if someone calls you a fader because you have not fulfilled a commitment then you are a fader, whether or not you recognise that commitment or not!

While this may be a difficult concept for many to grasp once you get it you will hold on to it and use it any opportunity you have (LOL)... what is the moral of this random story? Just get with it and learn. People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer. All you haters out there, unfortunately this term is not going to fade. And since you can't beat us join us! (LOL!!!!)

Something SO Beautiful

Have you been on the top of a hill early in the morning and had the view obstructed by the fog? You know that somewhere through that cloudiness there is a beautiful view, something spectacular waiting to be seen. Often that fog doesn’t disappear all at once, it clears slowly as the sun rises until it is all, eventually, revealed! God has cleared the fog from my view! Now all I see is something Beautiful!

Jet Lagged

Wow! It's been so quiet these days in blog land that i had to say hi! I'm sorry for being out of touch (for those that only know me thru my blog item). Over the past month I've been suffering from some serious jet lag! Before you ask... Nowhere... Yep, I haven't been on any plane or left the confines of this so called continent, Australia. Rather, I've been jet lagged emotionally from the trip that we call, life. I had reached a stagnant point in my river of life.

Having just completed my degree... I've been totally bored out of my skull! In fact if anything I've just felt trapped like my mind is in solitary confinement. My mental stimulation had been reduced to playing Fifa 07 and frequent, but financially unsustainable, trips to the cinema and fast food restaurants. Don't get me wrong. That is the life! But only for a max of 2 weeks. Now I'm attempting to get some synapse's action going on by actually doing something that requires me to think, so forgive me it this is the least interesting post you have ever read. But i don't care, I'm just dusting the cobwebs...

Let Go, Let Flow

As y’all can probably got from the title from this post and the picture, which in now synonymous with most of my posts. I’m talking about this great movie that Miss Muda had already blogged about and has encouraged me to watch but only watched last night. Now apart from the obvious theme of love which cuts deep into the soul and really makes you evaluate the way you view relationships and the importance of them. I, on the other hand have Something New to tell you, it’s a similar theme but focused differently, something that really struck me in this awesome movie.

Theme that hit me almost immediately, like in the first ten minutes of watching that brilliant movie, was that of conformity. Everyone conformed to a certain lifestyle. A certain way to talk, a certain way to act, a certain way to dress, having certain colours they could paint their houses, to even having a certain type of job that is socially acceptable. People in this movie where really set in their ways and remained in the type-cast stereotypes that society had put them to be in, society really being themselves. It really hit me that this is a reality for so many people in so many different levels.

As you guys know I refuse to be put into a box, to be cast in a mould of someone’s false perceptions of what life should be. But as I watched this movie I realised some of the ways I have been conforming and not letting go and letting flow as the movie encourages. We build our own destinies on what society has us think our destinies should be rather than just really going with our heart. Guys we should not live in bondage to the moulds that a crumbling society would have us live in. The barriers that we see, the obstacles in our way to our destiny are put there by ourselves through our submissiveness to conformity.

The ability to let go and let flow is what frees us. Where we know that there is no wrong path to our goals. Are we not individuals? Are any of your fingerprints the same as mine? Well, so what makes you think that our paths to our individual destiny are the same either? I know it seems almost comforting to have your path laid out in front of you and to live an automaton life, I assure you though you will not find satisfaction. Look at what happened when Kenya tried to conform to the relationship she thought she had always wanted, the socially acceptable path. A deep misery and emptiness filled her because that was not her path or her destiny. We often listen to the other voice that always questions why, instead of the one that says why not.

Wow, I cannot explain how this makes me feel when I see people wanting so hard to conform when they obviously don’t fit the mould, especially when they have a better destiny but are just settling. It rucks me HARD! (I need to breathe…..) Ok I’m preaching again… So I’ll rap it up! Here is all you need to take away from having read this post. Firstly, watch that movie, its deep! Secondly, never conform because you have your own path! Take it! And thirdly, live your life spontaneously, do and try Something New as often as you can, step out of your comfort zone… Let go, let flow!

Diamond Factor

As you guys should know that coal and diamonds are exactly the same thing.... They are both a lump of carbon. The only difference is that in order to get a diamond you have to put that carbon under immense heat and pressure, much, much more than coal.

You maybe wondering why I'm talking about the formation of diamonds? Well my point is that in order for something beautiful to be formed it has to be put under immense heat and pressure! Otherwise without it all you have is coal! This goes for everything in your life, relationships, school work and especially in your walk with Christ! The list is endless.

We should be thankful for tough times because they lead us to and help us fulfil our destiny! Do you want to shine like a diamond or be thrown into the fire like coal? Taking the easy way out of situations or avoiding them may do more harm than good. It may deny you the opportunities you need to grow in an area that is important. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from every difficult situation that you go through. The people who are able to take from these situations have what i like to call, the diamond factor.

You can always identify the people who have the diamond factor. It's the ones that have been through some hardships but have come out on top. They have that confident shine and certainty about them which tells people that you can throw anything their way and they will come out on top! Difficult situations build them up and rather that pull them down. I want to be one of those people.

Say Something

Why is it so difficult to let people know that you appreciate them and care for them? Why is it that we, as people, only wait for days that we are “allowed” to let people know how we feel? Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. If someone means so much to you why don’t you only let then know as often as you can? Why can’t people just pick the phone on a random day and say, “Hey, I just called to say that I really appreciate having you in my life”? LOL! How would you react if someone called you and said that to you? You’d probably think something was wrong or there is some ulterior motive. Well that is sad, isn’t it? Why has society made us numb to receiving and giving praise? Why does it feel weird to say some of these things? Why is it easier to say something bad about someone and so hard to say something good? How easy is it to send a text, a card, flowers or just a simple phone call? It’s VERY EASY! Guys I suggest that you holla at someone and just let them know you care! Life is too short and someone who is here today may not be here tomorrow! Wouldn’t it be a great feeling knowing that people you care about actually know that you care and that you are there for them?

Say something!

Guilt

Sha people... Have you ever had to get something off your chest so much that just thinking about it made your heart sink and your body weak? And this problem because of its closeness to the heart, then, flows into and affects other areas of your life. Well I have/had such a dilemma... Today, I actually went and talked to someone about it, hoping that it will be a release or major relief to get that certain issue (area of potential present/future conflict) off my chest...

Well, it didn't help at all and I'm wondering why that is... Usually I feel like a million bucks after I've gotten something off my chest, especially if it has been on there for a while like this item... Why do I feel so guilty? I wish I hadn't opened myself up like that! I wish I hadn't exposed myself like that... made myself vulnerable! I guess for me it's too deep and intimate to share my thoughts, my real thoughts! So what do you do in situations like that? Is it better to keep the gwan to yourself and hurt by yourself but be secure in knowing that no one else will know, no one else will get hurt and no one can judge you? Or is it better to get it off your chest, hurting people and opening yourself up for future attack or condemnation from those close to you? To be honest it feels like a lose-lose situation to me.
Hmmm.... I don't know!
(I never meant to hurt anybody!!!)

Podcast

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to let you know that I'll be podcasting... So when ever i think there is a song that expresses who i am, or i find a song that i feel like i need to share, like Violet Moyo's tracks, i won't hesitate! So enjoy the first selection...

We have Violet Moyo... Zim's finest... LOL!!! Personally i recommend No More Pain. Listen to it to the end, you might find yourself needing a serviette!!! She is so so so funny.... No this is no joke. This is the real deal!

P.S. I do have more than one song on my podcast. All you have to do is press the the "POSTS" button on the media player and you'll see the list of songs. ;-)