Salvation is a Recurring Gift

Today’s reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 20

It is amazing how often I have to calm myself down and remember God. It’s very easy to forget my salvation.

Just this week, for example, I was moved by a pastor’s sermon to rid my life of pizza, beer, sodas, candy and other nutritionally unsatisfying foods that I too often accept as staples of my diet.   God’s will, the pastor pointed out, is that I treat my body with respect, and giving in to my cravings for foods that are harmful to my body is the opposite of respect.

I left the church with grand intentions: I changed my plans for lunch at a pizza joint and found a good salad bar instead.  I drank water instead of diet soda for the rest of the day as well. The next day I did the same. Breakfast was a small bowl of whole wheat cereal instead of a greasy taco. Lunch was a nice sandwich featuring low-fat ham and a healthy dose of veggies instead of my usual Whataburger with cheese. And for dinner I made my father and me a huge salad topped off with my, somewhat famous among my friends and family, vinegar-and-oil-based dressing.

Sure I battled my cravings for Snickers bars, Coke Zero, and Panjo’s pizza all day long, but, in the end, I thanked God for a wonderful day and a very satisfied body and spirit. It was a blessed day!

But the next day, I caved.

Work had kept me up past midnight, so squeezing in a few extra minutes of sleep left me in a little rush to start the day. And that’s all the devil needed. Another bowl of whole wheat cereal would have probably been easier and faster to prepare, but I got into my car and drove 2 miles down to Yoli’s for a couple of bacon-egg and cheese tacos on their very greasy tortilla’s. I stood in line for 10 minutes, paid my $6, and came back home to enjoy.

For the next two days the pastor’s sermon (and even God himself) became an  after thought. I grabbed two candy bars for lunch and, you guessed it, ordered large Panjo’s pizza for dinner. The next day it was more of the same: cheap convenience store burritos for lunch,  a huge bowl of ice cream for dinner, and a very unhealthy dose of popcorn (with extra butter, of course) was the night cap for both days.

I’m a runner. So I just upped my mileage for  both of these days, and I figured God would forgive me.

Well, the Good News is that God did forgive me. From the very first bit of salivation, in fact.

But the bad news is that I had forgotten Him.  (And regular readers of these devotionals might have already noted some irony here. During these two days in which I now admit that I had forgotten God, I dutifully posted new articles, and I even remember praying aloud a couple of times.)

Fortunately, by Thursday, I remembered Him, and have returned to (mostly) healthy eating these last two days. (Dad and I did have fried chicken last night, but that’s only because I wanted to give my father a special treat. KFC is always a hit with him, and we don’t order it more than three or four times a year.)

Thanks be to God for Paul’s reminder in today’s reading:

“Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you–unless you have come to believe in vain.” (Verses 1-2)

May I (and we) always hold firmly to that message and never again believe in vain.