A New Year and a New Me?

Well, it's that time of year again: 2011 is over and on to 2012!  But, each year we commence thinking back and evaluating what we have done well, badly, and otherwise.  In fact, many industries capitalize greatly on this with our resolutions: gyms, health food stores, etc. see their greatest volume between January 1 and March on average.  But, why do we want to change yet not change?  I mean, if I know I'm overweight (which yes, I am!) why won't I do what it takes (healthy diet + exercise regularly) to make that change?  Is there something greater holding me back?  I mean, if I want to change and I'll "try" to make it work, why doesn't it?

In my case, the simple answer is that I am a slave to my flesh.  I enjoy food (which isn't a bad thing by itself) but I enjoy it to excess.  In biblical terms, I am a slave to an idol.  I am, instead of Christian hedonist, a simple hedonist living to please my flesh.  Not the title I like to carry, but true.  How can I maintain the fact that I am a follower of Christ with this knowledge?  It's hard, I'll be honest.  But, I know others struggle with their own list of sin including the apostle Paul.  He wrote,
"The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22I love God’s law with all my heart. 23But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."Romans 7.14-25 (NLT)
Now, if Paul, a man who was as close to God's law-abiding perfection could say this, what hope is there for someone like me?  It would look like not much, but there is a greater principle and promise at work here: Jesus came to set us free.  "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  But, instead of embracing freedom, we crouch in the back of our cell asking for them to shut the gate.  Think of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings: after being set free from the bondage of the Ring of Power, all he could think of was getting it back.  In fact, he died pursuing that desire because he was unable to let go of that which entangled him.  Are we the same way?  Paul's words seem to point that way, with us "doing what we don't want to" and not "doing what I want to do."  So where's the hope of the gospel?

This is the fancy pants theological word of the day: regeneration.  "Behold, I am making all things new..."  If we are in Christ, we are a "new creation."  Therefore, sin has no power over me unless we choose so.  The hard part is becoming more Christ-like so sin doesn't have a hold on me!  It's not an overnight process, but something that we must walk through if we  wish to be a follower of Christ...

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