Sometimes insights come to us from the strangest places. I was reading an article on the crisis of anorexia on today's college campuses (40% of girls at residential colleges will battle an eating disorder). There, nestled in a back issue of Psychology Today on page five of a six-page article, was one of the most powerful descriptions of what sin does to us that I've seen lately:

"Initially it's a choice," she says now. "You start dieting to be in control. But then it veers out of control. Anorexia is so dictated by fear. You're just a puppet of fear."

Isn't that how so much of sin operates? It starts out with a whisper: "Try me, I will give you power, control, what you wish for." We bite. But soon we find out we have become not masters, but slaves. We have not become invincible, but more bitterly afraid.

It takes courage to release our flimsy fantasies of control and admit we are powerless. It takes courage to believe that only in relinquishing our strength will we find any true power. That's not Jedi warrior paradox nonsense. That's the reality of living by the Gospel. Living out the Gospel means relinquishing our foolish bids for significance in anything other than in Christ. It's a truth that we are starving for.