Fat Diligence

(Proverbs 13:4 KJV)  The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

We are so brainwashed by our culture’s values.  Down through history we see that people thought fat was a good thing.  We have an expression, “Live off the fat of the land”.  Fat was something that could only be present when there was more than enough to sustain life.  Fat was a sign that you were rich or your cattle were well fed.  Fat was good.

Today fat is bad.  We have become so prosperous that fat is now a sign of poverty and lack of self control.  When I used to teach science and had a unit on the human body I pointed out that fat had three functions in the body.  Fat acted as a cushion or protection of body parts.  Fat stored food for a time of need.  Fat acted as insulation to keep the body warm.  Now all we hear about it diabetes and heart disease.  Now instead of fat and sassy we have anorexic and bulimic. 

So?  Just a reminder that the values of Jesus are not the values of Vanity Fair.  There is a healthy balance in body fat.  There is a healthy balance if adapting to our culture.  The needle of healthy balance should be determined by the Bible, not current fashion.