CRAVINGS

Cravings

Cravings: a word that I am very familiar with. In fact, I would venture to guess that most people would say they understand fully what I am talking about without saying anything else. Am I right?

It's funny how cravings work. I have found that they are all different. They happen at different times, last for different periods, and take a different degree of commitment to satisfy. But with all their differences, there is one thing that is the same; they consume you.

With me, I don't crave everything I like; I crave things that I have deemed as "necessary to survive". Here are examples: chocolate (more specifically frozen M&M's), diet vanilla coke, and running/exercise. Now you may have chuckled over my list. It is not complete, I assure you, but it gives you an idea of what I am talking about.

Now let me describe what happens when a craving hits. I am going through my day doing a range of things: dishes, laundry, mentoring, book work, devotions, etc. It never fails, right in the middle of one of them, I have a small little thought enter my head, or I get a headache, or whatever. I literally go from a little thought to a NEED in 60 seconds. There are times when I get so consumed with my cravings that I feel that there is no option left except to abandon what I am doing and go satisfy it. I call them my "breaks" during the day. I just need a little break…ha!

I want you all to stop and think about what you crave during your day. Is it people, drugs, food, sex, basketball, coffee? That list is small, it really could be anything! But I want you to stop and think about the feeling you get when you just WANT something right now. What happens to your mind? Where does it wander? I also want you to recognize the items that were in the list I typed. It ranges from "normal" to serious. The reason I slapped some major topics in there is to show you that it doesn't matter the severity, they all have the same effect, DISTRACTION. Those of us that don't struggle with the more "heavy" topics listed just justify that what we do crave isn't bad because they aren't the "bad things". But the truth is this: anything that consumes us and controls us, even if it isn't all the time, is an idol. Period.

As I was thinking about how I obtained the cravings that I did, I realize that it wasn't overnight. Nope…I started slow at first. A first taste, you could say. I really liked it, so I continued to enjoy it, all the while not realizing that my body was becoming dependant on it. Slowly but surely, I find myself where I am now, needing them to get through my day or week. When put that way, it really is sad.

What makes me sad is the fact that many times we go through our day craving, giving into cravings and satisfying our cravings. We find ourselves always needing something else and something more, all the while not ever needing or craving Jesus.

Isn't it funny that we claim Him as King. We put our salvations in His Hand and proclaim that we are His and will be with Him for eternity, but when it comes to our day to day life, He isn't the one consuming our thoughts.

It says in His Word that He is the bread of Life. We are so confused. I am convinced that so many of us are starving spiritually. We don't recognize it for that of course; instead we see it as this emptiness that we just can't seem to be able to fill. So in our messed up human way of thinking, we try with everything we got to fill it with things that just become cravings, and addictions, and ultimately distractions away from the truth of the only thing that will fill the void that has become who we are.

Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do we crave His Word? Do we get a small thought of Him and can't do anything else because it consumes us until we get our fill of Him? My guess is that most of us would answer no, if we were honest, even though we want our answer to be yes!

Let's step out of our confused state. Even though a withdrawal period is scary and hard, we can't be afraid of it! We need to rid ourselves of ourselves. We need to remember that we are bought…we are His. He is the only ONE that can fix us, forgive us, fill us to a capacity that is overflowing and keep us in a state where we do not need ANYTING else!

It's time! Do NOT think that you can live without cravings…just change what you crave. Taste and see that HE is GOOD! Him and Him alone!

Jesus. It's that simple.