My dad just recently shared Andy Stanley’s message on “A Pot of Stew.” It was uh-maze-ing. I do not lie. He talked about our appetite for always wanting more. Since appetites are never fully and finally satisfied, we have to reframe our appetites with what is at stake.
I have been studying the Fruit of the Spirit. And, I just finished studying self-control. Ugh. What an ugly, step on the toes, kind of word. You really can’t control your appetite without self-control. And, you really can’t operate in self-control without the power of the Holy Spirit. You know. Since it’s a quality of the Fruit of the Spirit and all.
I like Wikipedia’s definition of self-control: “Self control or self-control is the ability to control one’s emotions, behavior and desires in order to obtain some reward later.” God has an incredible future for you and me. We just have to exercise a little self-control to get there.
Of course, we find all of the qualities of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But, six verses above that, we read, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Do ya see where there is going? Feed the spirit. The flesh will starve.
And that, my friends, is how you demonstrate self-control. That is how you run, Forrest, run from appetites that are going to wreak havoc in your lives. Or from those awesome shoes on the DSW Shoe Warehouse rack.
You feed your spirit. With more of Him. In HIM, we find contentment. I kind of wrote about this here, but didn’t really address it from a how do I say no to those delish Jr. Mints sort of way. Not that God has called me to starve THAT part of my flesh. I’m just sayin’.
I love this fifth verse in Psalm 63: You satisfy me more than the richest feast….And, I love that David wrote this while hangin’ out in the dang wilderness. Isn’t at that a beautiful picture of how much God satisfies us?
Soooo…..
Feed your Spirit. It’ll make reframing that appetite of yours a whole lot easier.
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