Jesus, Idolatry, and the whole30

3-13-2015

I stared at the dish full of baked casserole on the stove. “…You quit the challenge?” Mom shrugged. “Yeah, I failed around day 3 or 4 and just figured, “why bother?”” I picked through the casserole frantically, looking for something I could salvage and eat. “Mom, there’s nothing in here I can eat! It’s all pasta and cheese!” I started to panic. I couldn’t eat. I would just skip dinner.

And then I woke up.

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Every week, my church has communion together. It’s a time of reflection and centering, remembering Jesus and what He has done. Last Sunday, as the elements came around to me, I took them in my hands and turned to mom. “Mom…will this break the cycle?” crackers have wheat in them. The grape juice is probably packed with artificial flavoring. What if I destroyed all the progress I had made over the last 3 days?

Mom and I are currently on day 8 of a 30 day challenge called the whole30. The short of it is this; no grains, dairy or processed foods. The long of it is here.

Something I love about the whole 30 plan is that it’s very much about following the spirit of the challenge, even more so than the letter of it. For instance, if you come across a food that technically follows all the “rules” of the program, but you crave it in an unhealthy way, you defeat the overarching purpose of the challenge by continuing to eat it, so it’s out.

This is my life! This is what the gospel of Jesus is all about! Need a little explanation? If so, read the next 3 paragraphs. If not, go ahead and skip.

SO. Those of us who have read the bible see that back in the day (you could call it B.C.), God gave His people (Israelites, or Jews) the law. “The law” was actually a bunch of laws about everything you could possibly imagine, and being in right standing with God required you to keep every single one of these laws (or kill an animal every time you broke one.)(Leviticus, yo. Check it.) Here’s the problem, though; the people had the letter of the law, but not the spirit. And without the Spirit, it’s impossible to fulfill the letter.

So Jesus came. He fulfilled the letter by living by the Spirit, thus showing us HOW to fulfill the law (Matthew 22:36-40). And then He made a way for us to fulfill it by sending His spirit to take residence in us and lead us into a life that fulfills the law, even without knowing every single piece of it (Romans 8:1-4).

This is really hard for some people (i.e. me). Some of us would rather have the letter. For me, this is because rules provide stability and a feeling of control. Living in dependence on His Spirit, however, takes balance, surrender, and a supreme lack of control (i.e. scary).

So it was with the Whole30. Mom and I dove in headfirst, her shelling out all the grocery money and me spending hours upon hours scouring the internet and compiling recipes/grocery lists. The lifestyle change became an obsession in a matter of days, to the point that during our sermon on Sunday (which was about grace vs. the law, by the way), I was thinking about meal prep and planning. And by the time communion came around…well, you read the beginning of this.

Here’s the problem with religion and trying to follow the letter; it’s an idol. A shiny, portable idol made out of pride and fear. And my idol had caused me to so lose sight of Jesus that I considered letting pass an opportunity to remember and honor Him for the sake of a “lifestyle change.”

Remember the dream at the very beginning of this blog? True confession; the dream came a few hours after I ate a meal I should have been fasting from. I made a commitment to God to abstain from that meal, and then justified it away.

When I woke up this morning, I remembered the dream and my refusal to eat if it meant breaking my whole30 commitment…and then I remembered how easily and knowingly I broke a commitment I made to my God.

The legalist in me just wants to junk the whole thing. Forget the whole30 and focus on Lent, THEN my problems will be solved. But will they? My conclusion is no, and here’s why; the problem isn’t with the Whole30 or the Law or anything I’ve put in the place of God(Romans 7:7-12). The problem is with my idol-factory heart that is still hell-bent (pun intended) on having control.(Romans 7:14-25)

Friends, hear me: FOLLOWING THE LAW WILL NOT FULFILL IT. Trying to do so will only lead your further into idolatry. Only by living in the spirit can we fulfill the law in all of its fullness, the way it’s meant to be fulfilled. The same reason I’m not going to eat a frozen banana that looks and tastes like ice cream on the Whole30 is the reason I need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help me adore Jesus and turn from idols; because simply “following the rules” isn’t going to cut it. it’s not going to accomplish what needs to be accomplished in my body/heart. Something greater needs to drive me.

This is my closing prayer and thought for us, friends.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” –Romans 13:8-10

May all that we do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)