This week, I started a new regimen of healthy eating and exercise. Because of a minor health concern, it became clear that I needed to make changes. Exercise has been easy, largely because I enjoy it and tend to be a happier person when I am more active. My first day of eating healthy went great, at first. I ate the right foods, drank the appropriate amount of water, and followed the plan to the letter...until dinner. Then things sort of went off the rails. We went out to eat and I lacked options that fit the plan, so I indulged. Then, my kids didn’t finish their dinners, so I ate theirs. By the time I was done, I was so far off the rails it was silly. This isn’t the first time I set out to change my eating. In January, I made a resolution to lose weight and get healthier. It hasn’t gone well for the same reason my first day of adjusted dieting went poorly: I don’t want to do it all that badly. I want to live a long time and be in good health, but I also want to eat junk food and lots of it. The majority of my day was healthy, but the one meal was extraordinarily not healthy. The fact of the matter is, if I do that every day, then I won’t make any actual changes. I can’t have it both ways. I either need to commit to a healthier lifestyle or not, because if I try to do both I will, by default, be choose to be unhealthy. In a letter the apostle John wrote, he told the readers: If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7) John is talking about living a new life as a result of following Jesus, which is incompatible with living a life in rebellion. We can’t say we are following Jesus but hate our neighbors or indulge in porn or steal or lie constantly or whatever. If we do, we are lying to ourselves. It’s just not true. This isn’t to say that we won’t struggle with sin. Dealing with sin is something we will do for the rest of our lives. This is in reference to the idea that we can just ignore our sins and neglect the love-God-and-your-neighbor commandment. We must live a new life in order to walk in the light. Our relationship with Jesus has to change us. Walking in the light means living a new life based on a relationship with Jesus and following His teachings. Just like my diet problem, we can’t do both. It’s a difficult truth, but it’s a Biblical one.
