When the weight starts creeping back on~the rabbit hole of life.

Revelation 2:5 (NKJV)
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen;
repent and do the first works,
or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand
from its place—unless you repent."

Ugh! You know what I'm talking about. You do the work. The weight comes off. You feel better about yourself. Then one morning, you weigh yourself and you're up just a little bit. You tell yourself, "That's from eating out, must be the sodium (salt) in the food. It will be gone by tomorrow." Then, the next morning you are down, but not all the way. This continues for a few weeks. Before you realize you're up five pounds, you're up seven pounds, you're up eight pounds. You asked yourself, "What am I doing?" You already know you are not being as diligent as you once were with eating enough, drinking enough water, getting enough protein, maybe even some less than desirable choices were made because you were busy? And...the weight started creeping back on.

Weight starts coming back on when we quit doing the things we did to loose the weight in the first place, not adding to what it took to loose the weight. Let me explain. I am working out more, not less. I am probably eating less not more. What I did before was I ate every two to three hours. I was constantly drinking water. What happened? I kept getting busier. I felt great due to the weight lost. Because I got relief from the weight loss, I started exercising more, working more, sleeping less, and the weight started creeping back on. I had failed to do what I had learned to do. I had to go back to doing my first works.

I share this because as a person and as a pastor for the last twenty plus years I have watched people get right with God and then fall away. They still love God but the weight of the world, the weight of sin started piling on them again. Finally, after a few weeks, or a few months the ground they gained was lost. Their first love had grown cold. They had forgotten to do what it took to get them back on fire for Jesus. They say things like, "Well, school started, soccer started, we went on vacation, we got a boat, we opened our campsite...." I think you see where I am going with all this?

Whatever it took to get you close to God, close to your goal weight, it will take you to keep you there. The disciplines of getting enough word (water and food), enough sleep (quiet time with God and prayer) will all still be needed to keep the weight from coming back on (falling away from God). We can get back if we just go back to doing our first works. (Rev.2:5)

Life is a process. We are going to grow one way or another. We can grow bigger or we can grow stronger, smarter, healthier, closer to God, or further away from God. The choices we make daily, make us. What we choose today--we become tomorrow.

What choices are you making today? Are they going to drawl you closer to the goals you have set for yourself? The call of God on your life? What direction are you headed? Whose voice are you heeding? One voice is calling you toward the mark of the high calling in Christ, while the other is sucking you down a rabbit hole that holds no reward in this life or the next.

Action step: Take a good look at where you are. Take a good look at how far you have come....and perhaps how far you have fallen. What do you see? Are you where you want to be? Are you still making progress or have you slid backwards a little at a time ever so slightly? You think no one notices...but you do. God does. What are you going to do differently today? The choice is yours. The rabbit hole or total peace and victory with yourself and with God? Life is a process. Vow to go in the right direction both physically and spiritually.