By Invitation Only

Although many of the Israelites were forcibly removed from Judah to Babylon as a consequence for their sin, not all of them or their descendants wanted to return when it was time to go home to rebuild the desecrated temple at Jerusalem.  The bible teaches that only those whose hearts God had moved returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5), and Ezra 2 provides a detailed account of those who actually returned.  The rest remained in the comfortable surroundings they had come to know in Babylon.  In other words, they preferred the lives of captivity and bondage that they had grown accustomed to.
 
As you lose weight through Christ, people are going to ask you the question every overweight person asks someone who has started to lose weight:  “You look good!  What are doing to lose the weight?”  But like the exiles in Babylon, most people, Christians and unbelievers alike, will not want to turn their hearts to God on this issue when you give them the answer.  In truth, it may have taken a while for you to come around, too.
 
This should not offend or surprise you.  God chooses us, and those whom He chooses are often referred to as the elect (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).  The Bible is clear that God chose (predestined) those who would believe in Him.  Those who believe are His chosen people for His glory (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; Ephesians 1:4-6, 11-12; & Romans 8:29-30).  The Bible also plainly teaches that God’s patience is indicative of His desire that no one should perish but that all men should repent (2 Peter 3:9).  Nevertheless, we all begin this life as lost sinners and must confess our sins, and it’s a mystery to us who is among the elect.  Consequently, we are commissioned to preach the gospel of Christ to the whole world so that the elect may hear it and be saved.  However, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict unbelievers of sin and prepare their hearts to receive Christ (John 16:7-10). 
 
Although it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict lost souls, you can still be part a of the solution.  Start praying for those in your life or with whom you come in contact with who are bound by the sins of gluttony and idolatry now!  Pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare the hearts of those suffering under bondage to those sins to yield to His conviction work within them, accept Jesus as their one and only Lord, and obey God’s commands regarding eating for His glory.  Lastly, pray that God will move their hearts to rebuild His Holy Temple (their bodies) just as the Lord “moved the hearts” of those in the Old Testament to repair the temple Solomon originally constructed when He set them free from captivity.