Sugar Fast Day 4
Did you ever read Sunday morning comics? I had several favorites. One of them was Cathy. I was probably initially drawn to her for her name ( even though she spelled it wrong. “K” not a “C” ). She was hilarious. Always complaining and rationalizing about something—usually her weight. A couple of years ago I read Victory Over Darkness by Neil T. Anderson. In one of his illustrations about controlling our thoughts he used one of the Cathy comic strips. It was a great illustration of the importance of taking every thought captive.
I was unable to find a picture of this particular comic, but here is the text of it:
Frame 1: ‘I will take a drive, but won’t go near the grocery store.’
Frame 2: ‘I will drive by the grocery store, but will not go in.’
Frame 3: ‘I’ll go in the grocery store, but will not go down the aisle where the candy is on sale.’
Frame 4: ‘I will look at the candy, but not pick it up.’
Frame 5: ‘I will pick it up, but not buy it.’
Frame 6: ‘I will buy it, but not open it.’
Frame 7: ‘Open it, but not smell it.’
Frame 8: ‘Smell it, but not taste it.’
Frame 9: ‘Taste it, but not eat it.’
Frame 10: ‘EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT!
Anderson’s point was that we need to take every thought captive before they lead us into sin.
A Way Out
God’ s word says that when we are tempted, and we will be tempted, He will provide a way out. (1Cor 10:13). In Cathy’s predicament above she could have avoided eating the entire grocery store if she had stopped her line of thought from the beginning.
I like this illustration. It connected some dots for me. I know and thought I understood these two verses:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
But I didn’t recognize the connection between them until this illustration. Taking captive my thoughts, from the very first thought, IS a way out of sin.
Personal Illustration
Just last month I went down the same slippery slope of allowing my thoughts to lead my body into a date with sugar—this time we met at Starbucks. I can see now how that initial thought, “Mochas are half off this week”, led me straight into doing something I know in my spirit I really didn’t want. If my response to that initial thought had been “that’s nice” or “who cares”, if I had taken that initial thought, held it captive and not given it freedom to grow, I would have been better off. And I might not be needing a 40 day sugar fast! So thank you Neil Anderson and thank you Cathy for giving me a solid image that I can bring to mind the next time my thoughts want to run amok. I MUST take every thought captive!