Barneyisfat

I recently had a doctor's appointment in the same building as an obesity clinic. The obesity section had a large bulletin board with "before and after" pictures of people who had recieved major surgery to lose weight. My mom pointed out the most interesting thing about the pictures; those who were happy in the "before" picture were happy in the "after" picture. Those who were unhappy in the "before" picture were unhappy in the "after" picture. Losing half of their body weight did nothing to improve their level of joy.

I see a lot of Christians every day who struggle with a multitude of sins. I hear Christians say "if only" they could get over that one particular sin habit. Masturbation, pornography, homosexuality, lust, gluttony, cursing, smoking, etc. The list goes on. (I don't think all of those things mentioned in the list are sin - yet that is the list) That "if only" they could overcome that one addictive sin behavior that they could ... could what? I never quite hear the rest of the sentence. Be happy, I suppose, or be righteous, or get right with Christ.

I weigh in at a portly 285. I'm not garguntuam, but I am a bigger person. I realized a number of years ago that if I couldn't be happy with who I was as a fat person, that I could never be happy with who I was at any size. It was a revelation, really. I stopped hating myself. I still don't want to see any photos of my body at pool parties, but I can be happy with who I am.

I think the same principle applies in both situations. Not that we should be happy with our sinful old selfs, but that we should be able to rejoice in what Christ has already done in us. If we can't celebrate the fact that Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins while we are yet sinners, how can we pretend that we would celebrate that fact if we were without sin?

I think the old "love the sinner hate the sin" slogan applies first and foremost to ourselves. Christ has counted each and every one of us as worthy of salvation - now why should we hate ourselves for our sin? A friend who struggles with homosexuality recently said that if people found out his secret he would kill himself. This simply breaks my heart. 1.) That we as the church have created a culture that elevates one sin above all others that a person can't even openly struggle against sin without being persecuted. 2.) That a person could hate the sinner (even unto death) even when the sinner is looking him back in the mirror, and 3.)That the church has so blatantly missed the mark and has no plan to revise its current stance, even knowing that it has caused much harm.

This Christmas, take a break from loving family and friends and be selfish. Love yourself. Love the sinner that you look at every day in the mirror. Show grace, mercy, and forgiveness to yourself. Celebrate that Christ died for you knowing that you would continually mess up - even after salvation. Celebrate the new life that Christ has given to you- knowing that you aren't perfect - and celebrate the victorious limp knowing that Christ's love is sufficient even in the face of your "secret little sin."