When you think of a "diet," you tend to think of "trying to lose weight." The fact is that "diet" generally means whatever you eat. That's the number one definition. In that sense, I've been working on my diet for years. At first it was, "You need to eat better ... more healthy." So, what is more healthy? "You know, less red meat, more fruits and vegetables, that sort of thing." So I've been tuning that diet for a long time. Adjust for calories, fat, fiber, protein. Make sure I'm eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. You know, all that healthy stuff. Ah, but it turns out it's not that easy. I switched to more fruits and vegetables and that was good ... for a short time. Then it was, "Oh, no, not that fruit; not that vegetable." Really? Not corn; that's not a healthy vegetable. Not bananas; too much sugar. So it turns out that the "healthy stuff" may not be. And the work goes on.
Maybe I'm overstating it, but I think I can show you in the Bible. Turn with me to Genesis 3. (Just kidding. You don't need to turn with me.) In that chapter of Genesis we have the first sin, the Fall. So great is this fall that it is capitalized. From this sin all mankind was plunged into sin and the consequences were dire indeed. (Think death and hell.) What was the sin? Eve ate the fruit. She could have eaten any other fruit, but she didn't. She ate that fruit. And the results were nothing less than catastrophic. See? That's how dangerous a bad diet can be.
Of course I'm not being serious. It is strange, however, that so many people think it is. Even Christians think that the reason all of mankind is born in sin is because Eve ate a piece of fruit. It's not true, you know. "Okay, then it was because she violated God's command." Well, yes, but even that's not the real answer. In Paul's epistle to the church at Rome he writes the famous, "All have sinned" (Rom 3:23). I bet you can fill in the phrase after that. It's important because, you see, it defines the problem. It's not eating the wrong fruit. It's not really even violating a command. Paul says we "fall short of the glory of God." That is the fundamental problem. That is the fatal error.
Look at the passage. Where did Eve go wrong? "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate" (Gen 3:6). Do you see it? Adam and Eve were in a paradise on Earth. God walked in the garden with them. It doesn't get any better than that. But Eve. Eve looked at the fruit. She liked the way it looked. She liked that it would make her wise. And the sin occurred.
I believe that's it. I believe that's the core of it. I believe that "righteous" means "looking at God" and "unrighteous" means ... not. I think that's what Paul meant in that Romans 3:23 verse. It's not that there are rules we shouldn't violate. It's that there is God's glory we shouldn't violate. It's that God is the Creator and the Lord and the Master and we are "from Him and through Him and to Him" (Rom 11:36) and we say, "No." The heavens declare the glory of God (Psa 19:1; Rom 1:20) and we say, "So?" We say, "I am the important one. I am the one that is to be considered first." It is, fundamentally, idolatry (Rom 1:18-23), where we replace God.
No, it's not a problem with diet. It's a problem with self. It's not a problem of being bad. It's a problem of being selfish. It's not a problem of failing to follow the rules. It's a problem of failing to glorify God. We were made for that. And we say, "No." And the troubles just keep coming. With our eyes on ourselves we shortchange God and slight other people and declare, "I will be like the Most High." The truth is we don't even know what it should look like. What does life focused on God rather than self look like? What does life focused on God rather than self look like in terms of interpersonal relationships? Marriage? Family? Interactions with others? Use of time? Entertainment choices? How we dress? How we spend our money? Oh, see? It's not even our money! We don't know what that looks like.
That's why the problem is "fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) and the solution is "die" (Rom 6:8). That's why we must be born again (John 3:3), raised with Him to new life (Rom 6:4-5). He died so that might no longer live for ourselves, but for Him (2 Cor 5:15). If only we could see this and get on with the process of looking at Jesus (Heb 12:2) rather than self. It's not natural. It's not even clear. It's such a hard thing to remember. But it's absolutely necessary.
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