A friend of mine was sharing with me her success on Weight Watchers. The program works by tracking what you eat. Each food is assigned a point count, and you are given an acceptable number of points daily to keep you in the healthy range. For instance, if you are given a target of 26 points a day, you could have 4 for breakfast, 8 lunch, 10 dinner and 2 snacks of 2 points each.
Counting your points is eye opening! While fruit has zero points (eat all you want!), a slice of chocolate cake has 14. You quickly learn that everything you eat has a cost, both literally and figuratively. But if you meet your goal, and stay within 2 points of it, you become a lifetime member.
As Christians, I can't help but notice sometimes we act like we are on "Sin-watchers." We have an "acceptable number" of sin points we allow ourselves to stay in the "godly" range. Telling a white lie might be 1 point, while jealousy is 2. But as long as we stay away from the biggies, like adultery (12 points) or murder (15 points) we're okay.
God doesn't see it that way. You see the acceptable point range for sin is zero. So every sin counts against us. Jesus said that sin is so offensive to God that lusting is as bad as adultery, and calling someone a fool is equal to murder! Still think you're in the "acceptable" range?
But Jesus died on the cross to pay the cost of our points. He took on all of our sins, so that when God see us, he only sees the fruits (zero points!) of Jesus' sacrifice.
In some ways, it would be good if there was "Sin-watchers." We could watch our points accumulate and be more aware that everything we do wrong has a cost. We would take better care of our behavior, and be more appreciative of the sacrifice Jesus made so that our points don't add up against us.
Losing weight is hard! And so is being godly. But with Jesus as our Savior, when we step on the scales of justice they'll point to "forgiven" and we'll meet our goal: Eternal lifetime membership.
Kelly Combs is a Christian wife, mom, writer and speaker. You can learn about Kelly by visiting her website at www.kellycombs.com
2 comments:
Perhaps a "Personal Sin Clock," similar to the debt clock you referenced the other day. {{shudder}} There are so many sins we don't even know that we are committing. That sin nature that we carry is weigh more (!) than we can bear. What an excellent analogy, my friend....
I think this is one of my favorite posts ever. Great job!
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