Adding something

Romans 13:14

Galatians 5:16-26

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In my experience, if you want to cut something out, your task will be much easier if you also focus on adding something in. If you choose to avoid a particular food for awhile, you'll simply feel hungry and deprived unless you concentrate on the foods you're adding in (extra special veggie dishes, sweets and breads allowed on your diet, delicious vegetarian proteins). If you choose to avoid a particular activity, be prepared with another activity to fill that time. If you cut out certain words from your conversations, have a strategy in place to fill the silence whenever you're tempted.
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God is quite familiar with our human nature and doesn't simply ask us to avoid the sins of the flesh. He also invites us to add the life of the Holy Spirit. If we focus on the "fun" our friends and neighbors are engaged in, we'll be extremely tempted to join them. If we instead focus on adding to our lives the fruits of the Spirit, we'll be too busy to participate in the acts of the flesh. Not that we won't still be tempted: we are after all still living in the day of evil. But the temptation will be lessened and we'll have the strength of the Lord available to resist all sins.