Quote of the Day: “A glutton is one who raids the icebox for a cure for spiritual malnutrition.” Frederick Buechner
Oddly enough, I really needed to see this today. Odd because I keep myself in super-good shape, race in running & triathlon event, but really struggle with food cravings. Not cravings like, once in awhile I like sweets or junk food….but cravings like “standing at the kitchen counter at 11pm eating as many chips as possible for 15-minutes before my conscience can catch-up to tell me to stop” cravings. Why do I do that? I don’t like how it makes my stomach feel for about the next 18-hours, I don’t like the weight gain, I don’t like the feeling of being out of control….I LOVE the taste, but a few chips would fix that.
This is where my subconscious mind…what the Apostle Paul calls the sinful nature…struggles against the voice of God within me. Not that eating chips is sinful…food is a small thing in comparison with other, larger issues in life…and enjoying chips, sweet treats, and other pleasures is just fine! BUT when that obsessive switch within me turns, it becomes something unhealthy; and it connects to the bigger stuff in my life as well….and pulls the focus of my spirit away from depending on God for peace & comfort, and instead seeks solace in a convenient but insufficient counterfeit. What, exactly, are “urges?” Why do we have them? What do they mean, in the eternal scope of things? They are echoes of the larger battle within us between living for God and living for Pleasure… Today’s reading is Galatians 5:16-25:
“I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
