“If you find honey, eat just enough—
Proverbs 25:16
too much of it,
and you will vomit.”
Disclaimer: This post may not be exciting, and I may get science-y on you. Get ready to want to close the tab, but please don’t. It’s about moderation — and we’re going to have to wade through some adult things on the way, so hang with me; it’s only a ten minute listen. (Please don’t close the tab!)
One time, while living alone in the city, I finished a meal I had been enjoying and had a craving for something sweet so, I grabbed a fun size pack of Skittles to scarf. After enjoying each Skittle, Skittle by Skittle to its fullest, I remained unsatisfied and discontented about the lack of “more sugar.” This is where I felt God interjected;
“So, you’re not looking for dessert, you’re looking for a sugar rush?” He asked, rhetorically.
I agreed, unashamedly, and understood that — eventually — it’d be best to change the habit, but in that exact moment, I was not impressed that, giving up sugar was what God was wanting for me, and I released a huge sigh of relief.
Some sins; like James 4 says; are sins we commit by not doing the good we know we ought to do — sins of omission — but a lot of sin has more to do with stopping something in our lives that we don’t want to be doing. If it is not a sin of omission, it is an issue that — only — needs to stop. Then, the solution is to just don’t do it; or don’t buy it; or — whatever it is — just don’t. This is where the “Fruit of the Spirit” — self-control — becomes invaluable.
Now self-control, or “moderation,” is critical for any kind of life other than poverty and hopelessness. If you think about it at all, it’s easy to understand that self-control is vital to having any sort of ‘good’ left for you in your future.
If your problem is consuming a substance or something like, watching endless hours of TV, or gossiping everywhere you go, to everyone you meet, it’s basically the same thing; don’t, anymore. All these struggles and hang-ups would be completely eliminated by learning how to control the “self” you live in.
It is so much easier said than done, though! Cigarettes had me pinned for a long time! ‘Not’ going to the corner store to buy a pack of cigarettes, was all I needed to do — I needed to, not do it.
I could lay on the couch, read the Bible, play video games, have sex, make jokes, eat food, watch TV, take naps… as long as I didn’t go to the store for cigarettes. If my goal was to quit smoking, then all that was required of me, in action, was; inaction.
When you get to the point where you can ‘not do’ anything you want, that’s when there’s power.
And it’s not, actually, just addictive substances that are “addictive.” Everything can be addictive. Not everything is going to be addictive to everyone, but I believe everything has the potential to latch on to us and become a ‘part of us’; displayed through repetitive and habitual actions in our daily lives.
Pride is one, quite emboldened in me, so I subconsciously nurse the need for the approval of those around me and I show it by constantly repeating the phrase, “You know what I mean?” It’s a habit that has become so lodged in my communication that, to go without allowing myself to say it would probably knock my world off axis for a long time. I would have to commit, wholeheartedly and probably put a large amount of focus into ridding myself of the habit. Pride, and its symptoms, are a lot of my addictive “substances.”
Have you ever heard of the word ‘desensitization’?
Addictive things, though attractive at first, won’t always work if we overindulge them. It doesn’t work like sugar, if your body is used to more sugar; it works like an addiction. Like it’s something that belongs in our system, but it’s something that doesn’t.
‘Excess’ is a bad thing.
If you have a practice of eating a large piece of cake, every day for a year, at first, your sugar will spike each time you partake. But, rather quickly, your mental state would grow accustomed to the daily treat and the way you ‘feel’ would level out.
Your body, on the other hand, would not. It would retain water. It would increase cortisol levels and other stress increasing chemicals. Your maximum energy potential would be lowered, and your physical endurance would lessen. You wouldn’t sleep as well as you were meant to, but you probably wouldn’t notice the difference, because you eat the cake every day. And you can’t experience what it feels like, not eating it, because you do; that’s all you know.
As far as you are concerned, you may feel fine, but, in truth, you’re subpar. And as the day goes on, you complain about your headaches, your back pain and how badly you need a nap.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 23, verse 11; “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.”
I believe it means that, even though, things like sugar in high amounts, or spending entire days on the couch, aren’t really, “against the law” or even considered sin; they still have bad outcomes.
Some things really aren’t worth partaking in.
And on the logical side, if we go hog-wild on a good thing, we’re essentially ruining the value of it. If we do this often enough, with enough things in our lives, there will be nothing left for us to enjoy. There are a ton of fun things on earth that God wants us to enjoy! Everything is permissible! Lack of moderation will send us to a place where our only option, ultimately, will be to suffer, because we’ve grown insensitive to stimulation and simple pleasures. Where you, literally, cannot ‘feel’; because there’s not enough of anything.
When we get to a point where the “addictive” habit is a part of us, it no longer feels good to do it; it just feels bad if we can’t.
When our sugar is high, we feel good. But sugar levels rise and fall, and after a while with the same regimen, in order to get a sugar rush — to get what sugar should do to us — we consume more.
Then, we consume more, more often.
The food industry learned we like spikes, so it pumps its food with substances that will give us what we want; more. Process, refine, and concentrate. Repeat. Society raises potency and we spike, over and over again. This is done in media and advertising as well. Movies press as close to the edge of ‘unacceptable’ as possible and add more danger and off-the-wall drama to attract people. The world feeds on ‘extreme’ — overindulgence.
But Proverbs warns that, even what is good can be ruined if not valued through temperance. Lack of self-control ruins good things.
Everything should be done in moderation. This isn’t a post about health, though, but pay attention here; there are some good pointers.
Each time you reinforce a filthy habit; by simply doing it, you jam the blunt tip of sin, deep into your spirit. It temporarily fills the spot, but it also makes the hole bigger, every time. When the buzz from whatever it is that makes us feel good dissipates, we begin again, to crave the comfort and “wholeness” we felt before, while we were nearer to our “relief.” We’re, then, left with a much bigger need, more of a “hole-ness,” than ‘wholeness.” We’re, then, miserable until we revisit and repeat the folly that never really fills us up, anyway. We return to feel the spike again; the spike that’s killing us.
Another verse in Proverbs, just the next chapter over (26), tells us what that situation looks like;
“As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
Vomit. God says; being trapped in habitual sin is nothing like what we think it is. It’s disgusting. Super, hugely, mindbogglingly repulsive.
Drunkenness? Gluttony, vein conceit, and envy?
Pride?
Some of these things won’t only, figuratively, make you puke, they’ll straight-up send you to the throne room for not using Wisdom’s fruit; self-control.
Have you ever attempted to keep up with someone who is much bigger than you, in a drinking game? Oh man, did pride wreck me on those nights! Talk about feeling stupid!
Maybe we won’t, literally, puke our guts out though, but, to repeat sin is basically like… Well, you know; it’s gross.
Science backs up the Bible. I believe even, true science represents the Bible. So when I see physical addiction working its “science” on me, through the lens of God’s Word I am also able to infer its spiritual implications and gain some understanding into ways to avoid aggressively jamming the proverbial blunt tip of sin into places only God can rightfully fill.
So, when you’re looking for that next thing to do in order to ‘feel better’ or ‘wind-down’, be mindful of what it is you’re seeking. If it’s reinforcing something wasteful or perpetuating a bad habit by having a “cheat day,” it’s probably the spike you are wanting.
But do you really want it?
God bless you, guys.
See you next time. Thanks for your support.
– God Exists –
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