Dysfunction Loves Company
A Family Reunion
Spending time with family can often bring out the worst in me and I become a dysfunctional stumbling block to those I love the most. This became apparent while staying with a member of my family who struggles with an eating disorder. Though I struggle with weight now that I’m older, this person has struggled with weight and food addiction all her life. Before I came to visit, she had started up with Weight Watchers again and for the first time was seeing some real growth in her eating habits. She was excited to see how diligent she was with tracking her food choices daily online and how that daily accountability was making a big difference in weight loss. I was so happy for her!
Then came our visit. I stayed for two weeks and during that time we both ate irresponsibly, late at night (which is the worst time to eat) and she didn’t track her food intake one time while I was there. Though I know I’m not responsible for her eating habits, I did nothing to encourage or inspire healthy choices for either one of us. Why? Our dysfunction fed off of one another and victimized us both. Back at home and 6 pounds heavier, God showed me that because of the food choices I made I had been a huge stumbling block to her. This deeply grieved my heart. We both love the Lord and we both love each other yet we were blind to the way we enabled each other in the area of food?
Dysfunction loves company and it’s easy to be dysfunctional when you have others to be dysfunctional with. Some would say, “Aren’t you being a little hard on yourself? After all, you were on vacation, isn’t that a good time to fudge and indulge yourself?” “You can go back to eating right when you leave. Besides, you both probably enjoyed not having to watch everything you ate.” However, in I Corinthians 8:9 Paul says, “But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” That’s what I was, a stumbling block to the weak.
I wish I could say that God had not spoken to me before regarding this issue with food, but He had done so several times. In I Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” OUCH!! By eating food that had no nutritional value, I fell into disobedience and acted carelessly and unloving toward her and toward myself. I know that God did not show me this to condemn me but to help me understand the power of dysfunction. How it can blind us to our actions, and in doing so, override our love for one another.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “…and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.”
Lord, thank You for convicting my heart and helping me see the sin that so easily entangles and how to avoid it. I pray that the power of dysfunction in me and my family members be dismantled and removed so Your Spirit can inspire us to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. In Jesus’ name, Amen!