Ephesians 4: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Well, my overeating has gotten me to take risks I wouldn't have otherwise. Because of my overeating, I stole food. When I was about eight, I talked a neighbor boy into going with me to the "candy store". I was a little older than he was and I talked him in to stealing some graham crackers, candy, and gum. We made it back home safe and sound with our loot and secretly devoured it.
Now, you would think this is where I would tell you that I got caught, went and apologized and it turned my life around. That's not really what happened. Actually, I talked the neighbor boy in to stealing one other time and we never got caught. So, why is this significant?
The thing is, although no one other than the neighbor and I knew we had stolen, God knew. Thanks to the conscience/Holy Spirit that God has embedded inside each of us, I just didn't feel good doing this and decided to stop. Unfortunately, I had let my love of food, candy, etc. cloud my logic.
I feel badly that I never did get to apologize to the owner of the store. I think I was too embarrassed and had lots of reasons rationalizing why I shouldn't attempt to apologize years later. What I did do is to use this story to share with students who would steal the play money in my class. It's kind of funny, but this seemed to happen once or twice a year. I would go into the hall with the person and explain what I told you. I would ask them if my taking the candy was a good thing to do and they would say, "No." I would tell them that I didn't feel good inside when I did this and don't do this any more.
Then, I ask them if my taking the things from the store makes me a bad person? Confused they would say, "No." I would explain that they are right. It wasn't a good thing for me to steal, but I didn't have to continue doing it. I'm not a bad person, but I made a "poor choice", just like they aren't a bad person because they stole my play money, but had made a "poor choice" and don't have to continue stealing. I usually ended the conversation with telling them to try to think of something nice to do for the class, but they didn't have to tell anyone. I think that making restitution of some sort is helpful, so they don't end up with a guilty conscience like me. "Ephesians 4: 27Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verse.
