I struggle at moderation. It’s hard for me to admit, but it’s true. I like to tell myself otherwise, that I’m stronger than I am, but I’m not. I have an addictive personality and once I find something I enjoy, I tend to enjoy it in excess.
Chocolate chip cookies are my latest obsession. I’m not the biggest fan of sweets (you have my permission to judge accordingly), but put a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of me and self-control is thrown out the window. The same goes for pizza. I’m a sucker for good pizza. I may try to watch what I eat and moderate my portions on any other day, but give me a good pizza and the deal is off. Give me more!
My struggles with moderation are not limited to food and drink, though. It’s just the easiest to identify. Unfortunately, it’s much more pronounced than that, and like a dirty diaper in a small room, it permeates all of my life. Received some good feedback and approval from my peers? Give me more. Got a raise at work and increased my monthly pay? Give me more. Got a promotion which gives me added responsibility and power? Give me more.
No matter the subject, the pattern is the same. I’m constantly chasing the next thing, constantly searching for the next level. And once I attain it, I hardly soak in the enjoyment before I’m on to the next thing. I want more.
Our generation knows a thing or two about this. Ours is the generation which has technology at our fingertips, and with it an endless supply of entertainment and information. Instant gratification is our birthright. Want to watch a pointless video because you need some laughs? Pull up YouTube. Want to know how to do something? Google it. Want to dress up your home with something cute and trendy? Check out Pinterest.
Netflix is probably the biggest culprit here. It’s a lazy Saturday morning, and we have nothing better to do, so we queue up an episode of some hyped show on Netflix. Five hours later we’re telling Netflix for the fourth time that yes, we are in fact still watching, and please stop judging. We can hardly peel ourselves away from the TV. One or two episodes, while entertaining and satisfactory, isn’t enough. We need more.
It’s Okay to Desire
Our binge watching obsession is a great picture of our entire lives, really. One is never enough. We want something, and so we chase it. Once we attain it, then it’s on to the next one. Cookies, pizza, Netflix? Oh yes. Money, comfort, approval? Absolutely. For all of the above, we’ll take more, please!
Does this mean there’s something wrong with us? Have we become robots, programmed to forever repeat this unending pattern – desire, chase, obtain, repeat? Is this unquenchable desire within us born from sin and unbelief?
No, I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, it’s this desire, this drive for more which makes us normal. It’s so natural to who we are as human beings, because embedded deep within the very fabric of our being is this unending desire for joy and satisfaction. We were created to desire; we were created to yearn.
And then God blessed His creation with good things, things which were intended for our enjoyment. He didn’t create them to cruelly tempt and tease us. He’s not a mean parent who woke up one morning and decided to cook some bacon just to toy with his kids.
Can you imagine?
There you are, sleeping in one Saturday morning, when all of a sudden that unmistakable aroma, the smell of bacon in all of its greasy, fatty goodness, hits you and immediately cancels your plans to sleep any later. You get up, slide into your house slippers, and make a b-line for the kitchen, where you find your dad tending to that delectable breakfast item. You sit down at the table, and your dad walks over with a plate so full of bacon you can hardly count all the pieces. He sits it right there in front of you, and just when you reach forward to grab one, two, three pieces, he knocks your hand away.
Sorry, kid, not today. This bacon isn’t meant to be eaten. You are simply to sit there and smell it. Desire it, but don’t eat it.
No, God did not create this world in that manner. We are surrounded by good things, blessings to be had (bacon to be eaten, if you will), all of which God meant for our enjoyment. My problem, as I’ve said, is moderation. I can’t simply enjoy one. I need one more cookie, one more slice of pizza, one more episode of Fuller House. I need one more promotion, one more raise, one more like on Instagram. Just give me more.
We’ve Missed the Point of Our Desires and God’s Blessings
Our struggles with moderation are really indicative of a bigger problem, though. The fact that we continually want more reveals that we’re missing the whole point of all these good things to begin with. We’re missing the point of our desires, and we’re missing the point of God’s gracious blessings in our lives.
These blessings were never meant to be the end game. They weren’t created for our enjoyment, alone. That was never their sole purpose. Yes, God intends them for our enjoyment, but His intention is more profound than that.
Every good thing in this world is ultimately meant to point us to the Source of that good. The creation points to its Creator. The good things of this life are good because of Who they come from. The problem, therefore, isn’t that we derive joy and satisfaction from God’s creation. The problem is that we keep stopping short. We’re a people full of desires living in a world full of good things. We run from good thing to good thing, consuming blessing after blessing, only to realize we’re still hungry and then it’s on to the next one.
We never stop to realize that these blessings are only crumbs, which were never meant to satisfy our hunger in full. We’re all wondering, lost in the wilderness of this world, and the Bread of Life has left a trail of crumbs to lead us back to Himself. The crumbs are delicious, and we’re meant to enjoy them, but we shouldn’t stop there. We shouldn’t go from crumb to crumb, stockpiling a basket full of them as if they will satisfy forever. At some point in our lives, we need to taste the goodness of the crumb and look up. The trail isn’t a banquet. It’s leading us to the banquet.
It’s only when we realize this that we’ll be able to enjoy God’s good blessings in a manner that honors him. I will always struggle with moderation if I chase the good things of this world as a means to an end. But when I see God’s blessings as good things which pale in comparison to their ultimate Source – when I see the crumbs as that which was meant ultimately to point me to the true Bread of Life – then, and only then, can I rightly say, give me More, give me More!
Muse in the Morning 