Do you have idols?
You probably don’t have an idol in your backyard. You don’t gather your children around and 
bow down to a statute or picture, do you? It would be easy for you to conclude that you don’t practice idolatry. But what if idols are much more subtle than that? What if idolatry is, first and foremost, something in your heart? This is precisely what is described in Ezekiel 14:3. Idols begin in your heart.
What if your “diet” problem is really an “idol” problem?
It would be easy for you and me to dismiss this notion completely. Sounds ridiculous, right? But your “inability” to turn away from certain foods or portions begins right here. If food is indeed your idol, you are going to need an ally to overturn it. Read online discussions about “comfort food” and you will begin to see the problem. I read somewhere that macaroni and cheese was the #1 comfort food after 9/11. What if you are turning to food for comfort instead of turning to the God of All Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)?
An Audio Discussion
At this link, you will find a Biblical discussion of idolatry. I encourage you to sit down with a copy of the Scriptures to work through this message.
Here you will discover that you can make an idol out of almost anything, especially food. When you begin here, you begin at “square one” in dieting and personal fitness. If your very best efforts to “fix this problem” haven’t worked, why not step back to see where the real problem is? Recognizing your use of food, and calling it what it is, makes all the difference. Here is a question for you to consider while that link is loading:
Do you eat to live or live to eat?
But if you live to eat, how can you stop?
In 1 John 5:21, we learn that it is necessary for you to keep yourself from idols. This raises two fundamental questions:
- How do you recognize an idol?
- How do you resist idolatry? That question is answered in another message posted here. If food has become your idol, there is real help here.