Gluten-free. It doesn’t even sound appealing. Yet those words hold the key to good health for someone I love. Before those two words entered her life, my dear one was dealing with crippling pain and debilitating health issues. Worry and fear lined the corners of her days as she struggled to understand why she felt so bad.
A year ago, someone identified gluten (a protein in cereal grains) as the potential bad guy. Eliminating gluten from one’s diet requires an incredible amount of attentiveness and awareness. It was a difficult, heart-wrenching process that necessitated learning to examine labels differently, reading menus with a fresh eye, figuring out how to cook everything in new ways, and practicing a self-determined vigilance. Today, the change is remarkable. Freeing her body of gluten has released her from the pain that was crippling her life.
I have learned much from watching her journey. I need to have as deep an awareness for the impact of sin on my life as she does for gluten’s effect on her body. She watches everything. There is nothing that goes into her body that is not screened. If she has a doubt, she doesn’t eat it. She carries her own food, goes out of her way to do what is healthy, and gently educates the rest of us. “Even just a little gluten in my body lights a fire that is difficult to extinguish,” she recently told me.
That is the way sin works in our souls. Just opening the door a little bit ignites a fire in us that takes hold and is difficult to douse. It gets into our system and cripples us. It builds up in our hearts, takes hold in our minds, and impacts our bodies. Vigilance, awareness, and attentiveness are required. We must learn to look at everything through the lens of holiness. We must move through our days while safe-guarding our hearts. It may require that we learn new habits, walk in different places, and gently encourage those around us to help us in our journey.
My Jesus Resolution today is to embrace a holiness diet. I am going to be careful about what goes into my mind. I am going to be attentive to what gains access to my heart. I am going to change my habits, determined to be on a healthy diet of holiness.
Casandra Martin 
this is the answer. i must be diligent. i am never diligent about anything that goes into my mouth. i am sort of “out of sight, out of mind” not realizing that every bite is shown clearly in my form. Such a struggle i have. this is the answer. vigilance. pray for me.