I know a dear woman, 82 years old, who relies on a walker to get around. She is still trying to lose weight and spends a lot of time thinking about her weight and worrying about it and talking about it. Firstly, she is somewhat overweight; but no more than the average Canadian. Secondly, her reason for wanting to lose weight is not for health reasons; she is merely unhappy with her physical appearance.

This woman has raised four good sons, has five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and has been married to a wonderful, loving man for nearly 60 years now. She has had an exceptionally good life with many blessings and few tragedies. She is well-loved by her family and no one cares in the slightest what she weighs. So, the question is this: why is she continually fretting about her outward appearance at a time in her life when she ought to be able to relax and enjoy a piece of cake? The last time we were together, she wouldn't eat her apple pie. ...

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. (1 John 3:11-12)

Cain's ego was threatened by Abel's righteousness. He was jealous of his brother and this filled his heart with insecurity and thus hatred. Compare Cain's actions to the behavior described in Ephesians 5:28-29 which says, "Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church."

If Cain had any love for himself, it was of the conceited and self-centered variety. This is not the kind of self-love that takes care of one's neighbor. On the contrary, seflish self-love always results in the exploitation and disregard of others. Leviticus 19:18 says, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself." ...

It is impossible, even for the most physically attractive women, to achieve physical perfection. Therefore, for those of us obsessively believing that weight-loss will be a cure-all, we have unknowingly placed a standard of Photoshop perfection upon ourselves that can never be obtained. We are so focused on our physical flaws that we can't see any of our attributes.

Even if we do manage to strip away some or all of the extra weight we carry, all these other listed physical "flaws" are still going to remain. ...

Whether you have a clear complexion or not, we all know that a single zit has the power to ruin an entire day. One big zit on your forehead, nose or chin and you're miserable. You try to hide it with coverup and powder, and even if this works to some degree, you still check your reflection every hour to make sure the makeup hasn't worn off. And if the zit is big enough, makeup will only hide the redness, not the size.

In short, there's nothing much that can be done for a big zit except to wait it out. Nevertheless, it's tough to resist the urge to envy women who seem to have a naturally porcelain skin. (Uh, remember air-brushing, foundation, concealer, and bronzer? Most women don't have perfect complexions.) ...

Two of the most detrimental things a Christian can do is either, 1) develop a why-bother attitude about prayer, thinking God will just do whatever He wants anyway, or 2) treat God as some kind of Genie in a bottle to be approached only when we want something from Him. ...

"When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 'Lord, have mercy on my son,' he said. 'He has seizures and is suffering greatly ... I brought him to your disciples but they could not heal him.' ... Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

"Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, 'Why couldn’t we drive it out?' He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.' ” (Matthew 17:14-16, 18-21)

Why is it that the disciples couldn't cast out this demon when Jesus had so clearly given them the power to heal every sickness and to exorcize demons (see Matthew 10:1,8)?