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Key Bible Verse: Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. (Ephesians 6:13, The Message) Dig Deeper: Ephesians 6:10-13

Once we engage in the battle against excessive eating, all hell will break loose—literally. It's not until we confront the subtler temptation of excessive and indulgent eating that we begin to even recognize her. She's a temptress. When coddled, she doesn't gloat; she just accepts her victories quietly as our weight increases, our waist expands, our cholesterol elevates, and our blood pressure builds—all while our souls are contracting.

But tell her "no" even one time, and it's like waking up a sleeping guard dog. Enter a long-term campaign to kill her, and you'll have a sworn enemy for life. In spite of its ferocity, this battle can produce many benefits. One of the first is a healthy humiliation. After the first month of denying myself, watching my food intake, trying to keep my exercise at a good level, I woke up, got on the scale, and discovered … I had gained one pound. Are you kidding me? I wanted to scream.

There is something soul scouring about facing a struggle that you know you can't win on your own, at least not in an absolute sense. It's more than humbling; it's humiliating, and it gave me renewed empathy for those who battle any habitual sin.

—Gary Thomas in Every Body Matters

My Response: What have I learned through battling my habitual sins?

Thought to Apply: It is easier to cry against 1,000 sins of others than to kill one of your own.— John Flavel (British clergyman, Puritan, writer)

Adapted from Every Body Matters (Zondervan, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2013 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Creator, help me to honor you in the way I take care of my body as an act of worship to you.

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