Diets, Legalism, and other Such Nonsense

For the past 6 days I have been on a detox diet. For 10 days I am basically a Vegan. Some days it's easy...some days it's hard. However, yesterday when I was sulking about being on detox I thought: Diets are just like legalism. To make sure that we're all on the same page for this analogy, let's drop a few definitions:

Diet - the process of adhering to strict rules and regulations regarding the food one eats to achieve health, and a more aesthetic physical condition.

Legalism - the process of adhering to strict rules and regulations to achieve both salvation and subsequent spiritual growth.


So, it goes like this: if you follow the diet, you WILL lose weight. If you do X,Y, and Z then you WILL go to heaven (I refer to the latter as "checklist salvation").

The problem with both of these premises is that they both hinge on one really important ingredient:

WILLPOWER

Willpower is the ability to do what you don't want to do. When I found that out, I knew it was all over for both my diet and my salvation...because Paul says it best in Romans 7:18-19:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

Basically, Paul...the apostle Paul is saying that his willpower is crap. So, if Paul was on a diet, he'd EAT the CAKE. And that's the issue with legalism...sooner or later, willpower runs out, and you eat the cake. And then what? You know how you feel when you break your diet: 

At first, you're terribly disappointed in yourself, guilty, broken. Then you're all like..."fat is my destiny" and you stop caring and eat whatever you want. Until you want to lose weight again, then you're back on the diet, eating right and exercising, up until you encounter: cake. Then the whole thing happens all over again: disappointment, guilt, brokenness, "fat destiny", apathy, anarchy, repentance, repeat.  Sound familiar?

So, if legalism is like the diet, then when you break a rule or don't correctly observe regulations, you're off the diet. That means, you've lost salvation, and you have to get back on the diet to get it back. This is concerning for a number of reasons: 

1. It puts all the power of salvation in our hands. If I can save myself by following a few rules, Christ died for NOTHING (See Galatians 2:21)
2. The only thing we're actually supposed to be doing is exhibiting the fruits of The Spirit. Note: they are not your fruits. They are the Spirit's fruits, so willpower can't produce them (See Galatians 5:22-23).
3. It perverts the purpose of the Law (bits and pieces of which are used to this day) .The Law was not a means to salvation, but was rather to teach us how CRAPPY we are, so we realize that our salvation can only be found in Christ (See Galatians 3:23-24)
4.  Sadly, there is always cake.

One, two, and three are bad, on a spiritual level...but number four feels REAL in the here and now. Because there is always cake. DARNED CAKE!!! What happens if I die with cake in my hand?! AHHHH!! Paul was plagued by this issue at the end of Romans 7...when he realized he'd probably (or definitely) eat some cake:

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)
...Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1-2)

So, via faith in Jesus Christ, we are free from what law? The law of: if you sin you die. So if we're free from that law, what makes people think that if you do X, Y, and Z you live? Hmmm...

I will now beseech God about that other law: if you eat junk food, and sit around watching Elf you will get fat. I wish faith in Jesus Christ would beat that one...

Thoughts?