Sin and a McMuffin

This morning I experience quite the opposite of "God and Coffee". I experienced "Sin and McMuffin".
There is this part of me that is so rebellious. So "Whatev!! I'll do what I want!". I can even do it in the same voice and roll my eyes with as much talent as my 16year old niece.
I was so excited shopping on Saturday when I realized I was back to the pant size I was before marriage. Eek! So exciting! That dairy free life was really working for me.
Until it wasn't.
Now I'm constantly battling the "Ooohh...I thought I'd never get to have cheesecake again! Bring it on!!" and "Hey, I want this; I missed buttery biscuits" thoughts. They are dangerous, my friend. And they could blast me right out of my new wardrobe.
And yet, I still creep on through that drive-thru and order the sausage mcmuffin.
After washing down a very greasy hash brown and an even greasier mcmuffin this morning, the ick factor started to sink in. And I got to thinking: this feels a lot like sin.
No, it's not a sin to eat fast food...in general.
The similarities are there, however.
It starts with the thought. The temptation. You see those golden arches and think "Mmm. That sounds good about now."
Then the mental battle begins. The should I or shan't I. Sometimes reason and determination kicks in and we drive right on by.
Other times we circle around a few times and creep into the drive-thru. We read the menu and play with the idea.
I like to tell myself I'm just getting a salad or fruit cup.
Then " I'll have a Mic Mac, fries and a Coke," spews forth from my mouth before I know what hit me!
Sin is very similar. It starts with temptation, which is not a sin at all until temptation turns into action.
Then once all is said and done and the greasy fry smell has permeated the car, the guilt begins. The attack on yourself and your willpower kicks in:
Great. It wasn't even that good!
I want to brush my teeth and wash my face!
I'll have to walk a couple miles to work that off!
Nothing but salad the next week!
Ick, ick, ick!
Why did I do that?
Sometimes the guilt makes me cranky and I just tell myself all the reasons I "deserved" that treat.
That it's not that bad.
I want another for dinner.
I'll have dessert, too! So there!
It's worse when someone else tries to intervene.
Like my husband: "I thought you said you wanted to avoid that kind of stuff."
Oh, if looks could kill, Buddy.
If only there was some fat zapper that would let you enjoy tasty, greasy, wanna-slap-your-mama food and then magically zap the calories, guilt and ick feeling away.
Here is where Sin is different than that McMuffin.
Sin can be "zapped" away.
Sin has been zapped away. Not to be enjoyed again another day, mind you. But the results, the separation from God as been abolished.
Jesus took all of those fatty "calories" upon Himself. He, who never touched so much as a fry (literally and metaphorically) took upon Himself every nibble, drive-thru burger, and all out feast any person had ever indulged in.
Moreover, He then did away with it.
He rose from the grave. Whole and healthy.
He did it to show He is God. He is the Boss. He is Mighty to save us from our sin.
The consequences will still be there. We will still be tempted again and again.
Only now, we have someone on our side who defeated those "golden arches" and is right there with us to help us drive on by.
Isn't that lovely?
Now, since sin and mcmuffins are still a little different, I am off to walk off that weak moment from this morning.