Philippians 3:18-19 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

As I read this I immediately got a mental image of churches filled with obese people. Such are not unusual, but immediately after that I realized that there are many other things of this world that we can focus on , rather than just food. The NIV says “their god is their stomach,” but the Japanese makes it much broader, saying, “their god is their desire.” As I have explained to my students in teaching Medical English, “appetite” most often refers to food, but it can apply to any number of things, and I think that’s the case here. There are plenty of people who seek temporal things to the exclusion of God: physical pleasure, human approval, (i.e. Social media) physical appearance, political power, and the list goes on and on. It’s all a matter of focus and priorities. We really don’t like that Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Frank Viola has written a good bit about the importance of the cross for our spiritual health, and about the many forms that can take. Too many people would rather be slaves to sin than take up their cross. That’s certainly “an inconvenient truth,” and it’s a sad one. Paul says here that he wept over it. It is painful indeed to see people we care deeply about living with sadly misplaced priorities. This doesn’t mean that we are to seek out pain; masochism has no place in the Church. However, fasting, not just food but any sort of temporal indulgence, is a powerful aid in seeing ourselves accurately, so that we can see our Lord more accurately. Jesus was not being mean when He said we needed to take up our cross, He was telling us the fastest, and really easiest, way to become like Him, which is certainly the highest good.

And may I say, ouch! I’ve never been much of a glutton when it came to food (though my appetite was legendary around the time I grew 6 inches in one year as a child) but I have allowed a wide variety of things to take precedence over the Lord at various times and in various ways. There’s an excellent reason the first of the 10 Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Living in Japan, which calls itself “The Land of 8 Million Gods,” I have tended to think of that in terms of religious idolatry, but I’ve got to remember in practical terms that it’s much broader than that. As Jesus said, the choice to put Him first is daily. These times of prayer and reading the Bible every morning are certainly helpful, but I am presented with choices throughout every day, and I need to keep my focus sharp.

Father, thank You for this clear reminder. It’s particularly appropriate as I am retiring from secular teaching, since my choices are much more operative than they have been. Help me choose to take up the cross You give me with joy, not grumbling, to become more and more like Christ Jesus my Lord, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!