Are cravings chasing you (21 day devotion)

Thought for the day: Are your cravings a curse or a blessing? The answer depends on what you are craving, because what we're craving will always depend on whatever we are consuming. Is it the object of our desire, or God & His truth?

A well known weight loss company showed an ad of a woman being chased all day by a little orange monster, tempting her with foods that obviously were not part of her healthy eating plan. This ad captures what it feels like to be harassed by cravings all day long.

God made us to crave. The problem is the object of our craving was never supposed to be food, sex, money or chasing after significance. Think of Eves temptation in the garden of Eden. While the object that enticed her might have been an apple, the core of her struggle was that she wanted to be like God, knowing good & evil. The very downfall of humanity was caused when the first woman surrendered to a craving to eat, & to pursue a power that she was never intended to wield. Look how Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4. After fasting 40 days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came to him & said "if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered "It is written Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Satan tried to appeal to Jesus' physical craving for food. But here is the significant difference between Eve & Jesus. Eve was saturated in the object of her desire. Jesus was saturated in Gods truth. He had been fasting for 40 days, but he held strong & set a powerful example of how to escape the vicious grip of temptation. When we feel deprived & consumed with wanting unhealthy choices, we to can rely on the truth of Gods word to help us. (Easier said then done) With each temptation, Jesus quoted scripture.The more saturated in truth the more powerful we'll be in resisting temptation, and the more we will direct our cravings where they should be to the author of all truth. Are cravings a blessing or a curse? The answer depends on what we are craving. And what we are craving will always depend on whatever we are consuming..either the object of our desire or God & his truth.