Truth and Reality Are My Friends

Have you ever had a moment when you come face to face with reality? You know what I’m talking about, that point in space and time when it dawns on you that you simply cannot escape the truth of a particular situation? The facts become undeniable.

Monday, I had one of those moments.

I went to the gym (something that I’ve been doing pretty regularly since January) and stepped on the scale. As I stared at the display and I couldn’t deny what was there. It was real and it was a fact. That scale wasn’t trying to spare my feelings or keep me happy. It was simply stating a fact.

In that moment I had a decision to make. Would I ignore the facts or would I embrace them? Would I allow those facts to create change or would I apathetically continue on through my day?

I chose to embrace fact and reality.

As a follower of Jesus I am aware that there are two aspects to our existence the physical and the spiritual. Regarding the physical it is easy to know how to make change. “Eat less, move more” as the saying goes.

The big issue comes with the spiritual aspect. What is going on beyond the physical? In Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul talks about the “fruit of the Spirit.” The fruit of the Spirit is seven-fold: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. I struggle with self-control.

Because this is a spiritual issue it’s not something I can just buck up. I’ve tried that. I bucked up and lost over a 100 pounds a few years ago. It didn’t stay off. Why? Because I haven’t dealt with the core issue. I changed behavior for a while but it didn’t last because the self-control issue hasn’t been dealt with.

How do you deal with the internal and spiritual? I need to pray. I need to invite others into prayer. I need to bring it into the light and and be honest about this very real struggle.

Isn’t it weird how we ignore reality and truth? Why couldn’t I simply look in the mirror and know? Because my own brokenness kept me from seeing reality.

Pray with me that I do not head back into the shadows. Pray that the behavior changes are based in spiritual transformation.

Truth and reality are indeed my friends.