Can you do this? Yes, you can!

I like cold turkey. Unless, by cold turkey, you mean quitting a bad habit. I think they call it “quitting cold turkey” because when you give up that thing that you love, you feel like a turkey that has been plucked of all its feathers and left to stand outside in the cold. There is no way to sugar-coat it, learning how to apply discipline to ones mind or body is not comfortable.

And that is where most people give up–before they have even started. They consider the pain and turn back to the thing that is killing them. Now, maybe they don’t want to believe it is killing them. Maybe they consider that food/drug/porn addiction isn’t really a problem. Maybe they consider they can keep it inside a tidy little box where nobody knows about it but them. But on the inside–they hate that thing and the cage they keep it in, and really wish they knew how to drop it over the edge of a bridge.

The reason so many of us struggle to conquer those things that have captured us is that we are afraid to name it. The word “sin” makes people uncomfortable. I was, for many years, unwilling to acknowledge overindulgence as sin because I loved it so much. My life was well-ordered around my proclivity to overeat, over watch television, and live a generally undisciplined life. Still, in God’s Holy law–the ten commandments–his very first “rule” is, “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.” The truth was, I pulled God out when I needed something, but for the most part, when stressed, angry, sad, happy, or any other intense emotion, I worshipped at the altar of food.

Sin is insidious and resides in all human hearts. In my opinion, the only way to conquer sin is by the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ. To know Christ we must surrender our sinful hearts to Him and as Him to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Salvation is His free gift to us–a gift that gives us communion and fellowship with God. But that free gift came at the cost of His life and therefore He does not take lightly to our living a life surrendered to sin instead.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” – Romans 6:1-2

So the very first thing we must do is surrender our wills to Jesus and ask Him to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Then, we must all allow Him to do it.

The prayer of faith is a beautiful thing. The more I ask God to show and heal me of sin, the more He does so. The gift of repentance is wholly freeing. I give to God my shame, regret, and humiliations, and He gives me His peace. This is how I walk as a Christian. I can deny my human passions by relying on His promises to strengthen me while I allow him to conquer that thing which had conquered me.

This is not pie in the sky. This is not a wishful hope. This is a real, practical, way to live joyfully and free.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:20-23

I started out this blog entry by talking about the thing we love making us feel like a cold turkey. I would at this point like to remind everyone that God will never leave us standing outside of the warmth of His love. Even in the worst circumstances, we can trust that He is with us and for us.

How do I know this?

Because when I surrendered my will to God and allowed Him to teach me discipline, we began walking towards hope. So yes, you can do this! You can surrender your will and invite Him to change your life. Will it be super comfy? Like your couch and a plate of cookies with your favorite television program? No. Following Jesus looks like torture. It’s like carrying a cross down a path that leads to death. By death–I mean the death of the you, you once were and walking toward life–the life you never dreamed could be possible.

Next time….Prepare to Suffer Well!