Hunger...and craving

Our church doesn't practice Lent, but some of us observe it anyway. I'm hit and miss. This year I've hit it...big time.

I had a huge problem with sugar. It's fair to say that some days sugary foods were 70% of my daily diet. I'm not counting breads with sugar in it, I'm talking about donuts, candy bars, etc. It's not that I didn't eat sandwiches and real meals, but there was a lot of junk in there. Some have asked how I've stayed small. Truth be told, I would skip meals sometimes or just pick at a meal so that I could have something sweet afterwards. It was an open invitation to diabetes. So, long story short, I decided that I had to kick sugar to the curb this Lenten season.

I haven't been ridiculous about it - checking labels for the word 'sugar' in the ingredients. For example, soda - I don't have a problem with soda. I can take it or leave it. I don't drink it very often. It's not a temptation for me, so it doesn't really count. The point of all of this is to restrict the things that make me squirm. I do cut some sugary things that aren't a temptation for me, and truth be told, as the weeks have gone by most sugary things don't tempt me.

It occurred to me today that the feeling I used to identify as hunger was not hunger...it was craving.  I truly thought it was hunger.  However, I did not need food. I needed cleansing.

Similarly, many people identify the "needs" in their lives (be it a hobby, job, person, activity, responsibility...) as "needs"...but they are cravings as well. They are the junk that obscure the true need. They don't need those things, they need cleansing.

Personally, I can't eat in moderation if I'm addicted. I have to cut it out entirely in order to free myself from it. Cut the head off the snake. My point is that if you are craving an activity, job, person, responsibility or anything else that you think you can't do without...you need to cut it out entirely in order to free yourself from it. If that sounds too difficult to do, that is only evidence that you really need to cut it out.

We don't notice the pollutants in our lives until we cut them out. That's a painful process, I know. Trust me, I know. I've cut more than one thing from my life in the past year, and it has all been painful. But I assure, even promise you, it is important that you do it. I won't glamorize it for you. I won't give you the victory speech. I'll just put it plainly. You need to do it.

The difference in a craving and hunger is that you can never satisfy a craving. There is no peace in a craving. The craving commands you. If you tell a craving "no", it will bark back at you. But I tell you, if you tell it "no" enough, it will in fact shut up - maybe not permanently, but it will begin to obey you. Like anything else though, you have to take the reigns. The stronger the craving, the more it will put up a fight for those reigns. Just keep telling yourself that you are stronger - because you are.

Hunger on the other hand is in fact a need. We have very few needs. And spiritually speaking, we have one. We try to fill that need with junk - busying ourselves with hobbies, knowledge, people, etc. - but it never satisfies our true need. We were designed to love God. We were designed to worship Him and spend time with Him. It may not sound very appetizing to you, but that's because you have too much junk in your life. When I've eaten candy bars for three days or three months, an apple or orange doesn't sound nearly as appetizing. But the candy bar rots my bones while an apple or orange will strengthen them. We put entirely too much weight into our momentary desires. We fool ourselves into believing that they mean anything in light of reality. The reality is you were designed by God for God. That's just the truth of the matter. Everything else will distort your view, confuse you, leave you unsatisfied, craving and longing for something more.

So I challenge you, give it up. Whatever it is that you feel you can't do without. Give it up. If your addiction is tightly interwoven into your being, that is going to sound impossible. Some addictions we should leave out in the cold entirely - a time-wasting, life-sucking hobby, for example. Other addictions, we just need to put in their rightful place - your children or job, for example.

The freedom, peace and joy of living without your addiction is well worth it! To be honest, it doesn't mean that the temptation to go back won't rear its ugly head ever again. But! That's not a sign for you to go back to it. It's just an invitation by that evil one who wants to destroy you. So when he sends you his putrid invitation, you grab the reigns tightly and emphatically tell him "no".