Pastor's Corner

30 Jun
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Mid-Week Challenge

Anyone who has struggled with weight loss can give testimony to the number of devices out there to help you with the challenge.  There’s a device that locks your refrigerator, a cookie jar that makes a pig sound when you open it, and a rubber waist belt that “tucks in your tummy” while making you sweat horribly.  For me, items such as these seem overly embarrassing. The psychological damage being done by having to lock down your refrigerator or hear a pig sound every time you crave a cookie has to cause lasting damage as equal to the extra pounds we need to shed.  Even with this foreknowledge people spend billions of dollars on crazy contraptions that promise to help you lose weight.  Out of all the silly and somewhat dangerous items I have seen, the newest one on the market out of New Zealand takes the cake (pun intended).  The inventors claim that they are fighting the "obesity epidemic" - by locking peoples' jaws 2 millimeters from shut via a magnetic contraption installed in the mouth. The goal is to restrict wearers to a liquid-only diet.  But don’t worry, the device has an emergency key to unlock it - just in case users have a panic attack or choke.  "It is a non-invasive, reversible, economical and attractive alternative to surgical procedures," the study's lead researcher said in a news release Monday. "The fact is, there are no adverse consequences with this device." https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/29/weight-loss-eating-disorder-dangerous/ 

So let me get this straight, someone has to go to the dentist to get the device installed.  You can only have liquids, and oh by the way, there are no adverse consequences to not being able to open your mouth??  “Not able to open your mouth,” you say…  Somewhere there is a husband or wife asking, “So where do I sign my spouse up?”  

Doctors and nutrition experts have already begun to express their disapproval. One expert shared, “This is very, very dangerous.  Any extreme weight loss device — any of these strategies run the risk of harm unless you're working with someone who is fully trained to deal with all these issues that can arise from it.”  Another rightfully commented, “It also completely oversimplifies the issue of obesity, reduces the process of weight loss to a question of compliance and willpower and ignores the many complex factors involved, which may include eating disorders.”

Even with professionals telling us not to do it, there will be hundreds that buy into it because it promises a quick fix to a problem that requires a lifestyle change solution.  In my experience these participants will tell you the right answers to fix their problems, but few are willing to make the corrections necessary and opt instead for these failed approaches.    

It reminds me of Christians I encounter in ministry. During a time of crisis or need they ask for an individual verse or prayer but afterwards are unwilling to make the whole Scripture part of their life.  They approach the Bible as a wish list of individual fixes for life encounters instead of an entire lifestyle that one must adopt every day.

Just like there are no quick fixes in life, there are no quick solutions in religion.  Christianity is not something we can turn on when we need it and off when we don’t. When we only reach out to Jesus in a crisis we miss out on all the greatness that comes from daily walking with Him.  

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Serving the Savior,

Bro. Jonathan

By: Dr. Jonathan Richerson

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