Category: over-indulgence

wildhorse2

20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. Proverbs 27

I’m back in the saddle!  We had a great Good Friday and Easter, both at our awesome faith community at the thevineyardchurch.ca and with my family.  Enjoyed the time off and did some yard work and puttering around the house.  Here’s an interesting tidbit for you.  On Easter Sunday I pondered the resurrection and I came to the conclusion that Jesus is the ‘Beautiful’ that the world longs for.  I say that because I tend to find that most people don’t have a problem with Jesus. It’s the ‘church’ that they have issues with, but again…I’m rambling.  Onto the sayings of the wise!

The 27th chapter of Proverbs has a potpourri of wisdom sayings that should be allowed to marinate in our minds and hearts.  However, this one stood out for me for whatever reason, and here’s the point that hit home…

Thank God (literally) that desire is never satisfied, otherwise, we’d never long for more and more and more.  That’s what makes desire…well, desire!  I wouldn’t want desire to be satisfied forever.   Sure, there are times when we attain that satisfaction, and the satisfaction is good…temporarily…but then we want more.  And that’s the beauty of desire.  That’s also it’s downfall.

Because desire is never satisfied, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that if desire hits, we then need to satisfy it or ‘quench’ it.  But the truth is, it always wants more.  We have a better understanding of that today with the advances of science and the study of the brain.

Which is all the more reason why we must practice the art of self-discipline.  Desire must be disciplined. It needs to be restrained to be healthy.  Desire must be mastered, otherwise, it will master us, and when that happens, there is the potential that all hell will break loose.

So, don’t try to pray away your desires because you need them.  Rather, bring a good dose of discipline to the situation and rein in those desires.  You’ll be a much better person for it!

winnie-the-poohFrom Proverbs Twenty-five

16 Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

17 Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome.

27 It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

Ya have to like Pooh Bear…honey pot and all.  One thing about Pooh, he does make honey look wonderfully yummy.  While Solomon may think Pooh Bear is cute, floating in his honey pot, when it comes down to the reality of life, too much of a good thing is really not a good thing!  And that’s the point that Solomon is trying to make.  I think we can all recall a time when we ate too much of a good thing.  Rather than having the effect we were chasing after, it did quite the opposite, didn’t it?  If you gorged yourself, then you probably ended up hugging the toilet bowl.  Remember the adage…everything in moderation.  EVERYTHING!

Solomon uses two examples throughout this chapter of too much of a good thing.

  1. Wearing a path from your house to your neighbour’s house (or vice versa), does not inspire close relationships. Think of it this way: as you ‘wear’ a path to your neighbour, so you ‘wear’ out your friendship. We know what it feels like when someone begins to wear out their welcome – tiresome!
  2. The proverb in verse 27 goes without saying. Needing to be noticed, applauded, and recognized for this, that and the next thing, ranks right up there with the person who tells you how humble they are. The minute they thought of telling you that they were humble they immediately disqualified themselves. So it is with the person who needs to be recognized and applauded.

So the next time you’re hankering to satisfy that sweet tooth of yours, remember that ‘less is more’.  Too much and you may end up finding yourself embracing the proverbial toilet!

Even Pooh Bear would agree with that nugget of wisdom!