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“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”

Sound familiar? Paul wrote that in Romans 7:19. Paul writes in this chapter about the conflict of two natures. And I believe there are great insights here for us as to why diets will never work.

Paul says there is sin in me (7:21) and it fights with my will (7:23). And, like us, Paul cries out “who will set me free?” (7:24)

Paul explains that in the Old Testament, God gave the Law to His people. But it was impossible for people to keep all the Law and that’s why Jesus had to come to die for our sins. Jesus did for us what the Law never could. (And Jesus wants to do for us what diets never can!)

When we received Christ as our Savior, we “were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that we might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” (7:4) (Bearing fruit for God is impossible without being joined to Jesus and walking in the Spirit–instead of the Law.)

Here’s the key verse that shows why diets will never work for us.

“For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” (7:5)

I know I’m treading in some theological waters here and I need to be careful. I understand that The Law was more than a diet. The Law was a strict set of rules for all kinds of behavior. The Law was a tutor to lead us to our need for Christ–we could never keep the rules because of our sinful nature.

The Law–diets/rules for behavior–actually created or aroused a desire to break those rules because of our sinful nature. Oh, how our flesh hates rules! So what can we learn about our nature and how it relates to rules?

Rules awaken or arouse a desire to break those rules. Whenever we put the rules of a diet on us, all we can think about is how we want what we can’t have. The diet actually creates in us an even stronger pull to break it. This is biblical.

And on a practical side, whenever we set our minds on something to NOT do, it’s all we can think about. I’ll show you what I mean. Try this: Don’t think about pink elephants. Whatever you do for the next minute, don’t think about pink elephants. Time yourself. Go!

(pause for a minute…and don’t think about pink elephants)

So? It’s all you could think about, isn’t it?

When we diet, we set up our minds/flesh to dwell on what we can’t have: carbs, points, calories, doughnuts, sugar, etc. etc. Once we set that “law” in our minds, our flesh wants what it can’t have more than ever.

So is the Law bad? Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” (7:7-8)

Oh my goodness! Do you see what God is saying here? 

God used the Law to show us that we need a Savior. We could never uphold all the rules of the Law because of sin that dwells in our flesh. Rules awaken desire. We needed another way!

The answer is here: “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of THE SPIRIT and not in oldness of the letter.” (7:6)

As we learn to walk in the Spirit instead of the Law (diet rules), we will find the freedom that Jesus won for us on the cross.

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:25)