“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.” Luke 11:23-26
I used to think that I would eventually fail at any diet I tried. Sure, I could give up certain foods for a while, and I’d feel great! Deep down, though, I knew there would come a day that someone around me would be eating one of those forbidden foods, and I would find myself eating it, too–and that would be the end of the diet.
That’s how it was until I came across the phrase “Instead of.” As Jesus said, when you get rid of something bad, you’ve got to put something good in its place, so that there’s no room for its return. When an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, that person must pray for the Holy Spirit to come in and take its place. When we give up a good that causes us harm, we need to adopt another food in its place.
How does it work? Well, when my husband eats a bowl of frozen yogurt–which leaves an acid ash–I now drink herbal tea with Vitamin C powder instead. When the rest of the family eats cheddar cheese soup, I slurp tomato soup or kale soup instead. When everyone else eats cheesecake, I enjoy a millet cookie or strawberries with Soy Whip. Instead of popcorn, I munch on sunflower seeds or almonds. With an “instead of” ready for action, this bone-building diet has become a way of life–and a pleasant one at that!
