How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103
In our March Faith and Food class, we discussed cravings and how they can affect us both physically and spiritually.
Food can be one of the greatest joys in life, but it can also be one of our greatest enemies. When food is used to fulfill our needs or as a replacement for our spiritual needs, we need to look at the source of the problem and begin to work towards victory in this area.
Let’s face it we ALL love to eat! We were created to eat and nourish our bodies. Food can bring an array of emotions and we find ourselves eating when we are happy, sad, mad and especially when we are hurting.
We can become addicted to food being our answer and to help us “feel” better. The key is learning to identify these what triggers these cravings? Ask yourself, “Am I eating because I am emotional or am I really hungry?
Common Triggers:
FIGHT WITH SPOUSE
TIRED AND EXHAUSTED
BORED
During the taste test, we discovered that our taste buds can use a little “retraining” when we are not used to eating healthy foods. Over time, you will begin to crave real food versus fake food when you retrain your body to desire the REAL food God has generously given us.
Training our spirits works the same way. The more we grow and learn from a consistent taste of God’s Word, the better it will taste. A nibble here and there will turn into full meals and will start to give you the nutrition you need spiritually.
When we find ourselves in a situation where life’s triggers turn to cravings, we need to turn to the Word, not the world. At first, this might take discipline, planning, and it surely will take a lot of faith. But you can do it if you consistently choose God over the bag of potato chips.
Pray for strength. Don’t beat yourself up if you fail and eat donuts. Pick yourself up and repeat this scripture:
I am holding you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God—and I say to you, Don’t be afraid; I am here to help you. (Isaiah 41:13 TLB)
When you continue to practice and do these new skills, you will retrain your physical and spiritual taste buds. Before you know it, only real food and only real Words of God will taste good to you. You will not look to food as your answer, and you will eat to live and not live to eat.
Discuss some of your triggers below and how you are working on overcoming them.
