I know you can't tell it, but I need to go on a diet. I could stand to lose twenty or so pounds. My clothes would fit better, I would feel better, and my wife would quit calling me a "big old bear". Now my dilemma is this: I like food, especially sweets. I love chocolate chip cookie dough, cinnamon rolls, pecan pralines... Man, I'm getting hungry just writing this! And to compound my weight problem, my wife is a great cook. The other dilemma is this: Which of the ten thousand diet plans do I choose? It's time to surf the net. There's the Atkins Diet (didn't he just die?)... the 21-Day Diet (isn't that sixty-three meals?)... and don't forget Slim-Fast (have you seen Tommy LaSorda lately?). Or, I could just take a pill every day that would curb my appetite---hopefully one that wouldn't give me the jitters. Ah, I think I just found the perfect diet for me. It starts out like this. Looking for a Weight Loss Miracle? (Well, yes I am) This Is It! You can have a slimmer, well-toned body AND eat the Foods you love! (Like Sweets?) Forget about dieting! (Done!) Lose weight easier! (Sounds like a plan) No excessive exercise! (No sit-ups?) Works while you sleep! (Bingo!) Just a half-ounce of Sleep 'n Slim in a glass of water at bedtime helps your body BURN FAT and build lean muscular mass while you sleep! (I'm good at sleeping) It enhances the body's natural mechanism for rejuvenation and repair. Only $49.95 plus S&H for a one-month supply. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

But most of us know what all health experts say about losing weight and keeping it off. Eat a well-balanced diet and exercise. Doesn't that sound boring? What it really boils down to is this---it's a lifestyle of healthy eating and proper rest and the same goes for our spiritual "diets". There are no fad diets with Jesus...no quick fixes. As with most healthy diets, large quantities of water are necessary. John chapter 4 tells the story of when Jesus confronted a Samaritan woman at the well and told her of the Living Water. She asked Him where she could get this water. Jesus answered and said..."whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Jesus then went on tell the woman about worship and that His Father was seeking true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in spirit and truth..." The woman asks about water and then the disciples ask about food. Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." 

Just like the woman at the well and the disciples, our spiritual diet must consist of being filled with the Living Water and then doing the will of our Father. And to do this on a daily basis, we must abide in Him and allow His Word to abide IN us (see John 15). The greatest sermons can be preached, deliverance prayers can be said, and just like dieting, it really comes down to discipline in our lifestyle choices. So, here's the spiritual diet plan: Submit to God, get the Word in your heart, draw near to the Savior through prayer, fellowship with other believers, worship Him with your whole life everyday, and seek Him first. No more than I can drink a glass of Sleep 'n Slim and lose weight, can I just lay my head on the Bible at night and get all I need to live a healthy life in Christ. Oh, and if you happen to crave sweets like I do, listen to this last part of the diet plan found in Ephesians 5, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."

Free Indeed,  Harold Watkins