It may happen suddenly, but often it is gradual. So gradual you may not realize it is happening.
After I had cataract surgery, I was amazed at how clear, crisp and brightly I could see. And without glasses or contacts. How nice to just “see!”
A while ago, I started having trouble with my right eye. Sometimes it hurt and felt dry; other times it ran tears. My eye felt uncomfortable. I tried drops. I tried using no eye makeup. I tried all kinds of things to get my eye to feel and see better.
At my checkup, the cause was discovered. A cataract- like growth had come back. My doctor was able to remove it with laser quickly, easily and with good results.
I was so surprised that my vision in that eye had gotten so bad.
The change didn’t happen overnight. It slowly grew and deteriorated my ability to see.
In a similar way, weight can slip up on you. Perhaps you stop eating healthy for an occasion, a one-time splurge. But that splurge reminded you of how good those unhealthy food choices were to your taste buds. Each bite you take makes it easier to take another bite another day.
Clothes seem a little tighter, but you tell yourself you can easily drop that weight. Maybe you put off starting to eat right again. Procrastination becomes longer as the delay in action feeds on itself to create more inaction.
The day comes when you see the number on the scales and you feel defeated and that you cannot possibly lose all the weight you have gained as you “got ready” to do something about it.
Sin can be slow and stealthy as it grows in our lives. One way sin is pictured is in James 1:15: “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
Psalms 1:1-3 says: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.”
Pictured is a person who begins to sin by “walking with the wicked,” then stands, and then finally sits with sin.
Ephesians 5:11 tells us to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Let’s admit our sin to God, decide to stop the sin, ask God to forgive and ask God to give us strength to stop sinning.
Don’t sit down!
