“Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, that you not have it in excess and vomit it.” Proverbs 25:16
Christians often make a terrible mistake in organizing their life. What happens is that they don’t “think on these things” (Philippians 4:8), nor “test” (Romans 12:1-2) the particulars of their lives over against the knowledge of God. In other words, they turn their daily affairs over to worldliness because of sloppy thinking. They’re wrongly convinced that God is God of Sunday and only slightly (at best) involved with the rest of the week.
But we’re saved to a great and unsurpassed salvation! And our response to this miraculous grace is and should be to present our entire lives – everything – as a living sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1). So, whether we live or die, eat or drink, play or work, nap or exercise, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8-9). This truth, when we really think on it, changes everything. It’s not an accident that we’re told not to overindulge in honey because in Psalm 19 we learn that the Word of the Lord, His precepts and principles are “sweeter than honey.” Our Lord teaches us about the connection between our heart and our treasure. So, the principle in play in this verse is that self-control is the habit of the Christian for the very reason that he/she prizes righteousness in the Lord, through faith and holy living inspired by that faith, more than earthly honey. All pleasures on earth, therefore, are brought into proper perspective in Christ and only in Him. This isn’t a call to asceticism or severity to the body but to a life of holiness and joy through perpetual worship and thanksgiving to God in Christ.
It’s for this reason that Christians “give thanks” for a meal. Many have, unfortunately, come to see this as a duty rather than a great privilege and pleasure. Many think nothing of eating a snack, gulping it down in a hurried frenzy with nary of thought of the God who gave us such pleasures. Do you think the Lord doesn’t care if you eat a donut and enjoy it? How preposterous! What parent gives their child a treat and doesn’t teach them to say thank you? But the problem lies in the thankless heart that’s devoid of the presence of God, which is the playground of sin. A heart not enraptured by the love of God, the majesty which is His alone, and the amazing grace in which it stands, holy and blameless, is a heart that’s starving for beauty and joy. Tragically – and watch this – the heart that’s going it alone during the week, devoid of God’s presence, will seek counterfeit joys. It won’t be satiated by the awe of God and the pleasures all around them in which they can worship Him. Instead, it will use those gifts – the honey of life, the chocolates, the treats and pleasures – as a drug. Sin is a drug. Sin makes us low, like Nebuchadnezzar in the field, roaming like an animal, a slave to our base appetites.
This is the habit of sin. It’s the flesh. And it springs from the loss of awe and reverence for God. We do well to understand this and see how our default setting is thanklessness. Note how the unconverted around you are bitter; they’re scoffers and mockers who obsess with what’s wrong with the world while excusing themselves. They complain about “the system” or this and that…a boss, a friend…anything. They are experts at noticing the specks in the eye of another and always have an excuse for themselves. This is the sin condition that we’re called out of in Christ. In Christ we’re released from that bondage of despair and lack of true joy; we’re released from the horrible guilt of sin, the shame and endless worry. It’s to that end that we see life aright and we rejoice – even in our sufferings, all because we see Christ in everything.
To give thanks for a meal is a holy honor. It’s the humble recognition that our Heavenly Father has provided for us. Ah, so sweet are the lips that drip praise and honor of God! So nourished is the soul that adores Him and His every little gift. The answer to obesity is the praise of God through His gifts. The answer to addictions is the heart that’s set on God’s beauty all around and see Him always…in everything and in every way. A sunset. A bird in a tree singing a song God gave it to sing. To hear that song and to see that sunset is to behold what God has kissed you with that day, child, so rejoice. Yes, rejoice and know that the Lord is sovereign. There is no part of creation over which He doesn’t have the keys. To “think on this” is to put life in perspective at last. It’s terror to think that life is just random moments and that there are powers beyond His control. It will starve you of peace and joy. It will leave you a cadaver of a spiritual body, ravaged by the false foods and nourishment of sin, which promises you what you want, like a dehydrated man in a desert trying to gulp handfuls of sand. Sin’s lies only work when we don’t see the glory of God in all things.
Have you ever seen a homeless person digging through the trash? It’s an awful scene. It’s unspeakably tragic. But this is a mere picture of what the vast majority of men and women are doing every day because of sin. A man who doesn’t give thanks to God for a piece of candy has traded in a fleshly pleasure for the glory of knowing and praising God, which is what we were created for in the first place. The lack of seeking God’s glory in our hearts will lead us to counterfeits and these counterfeits will enslave us. So, we exercise “moderation” in our appetites not because its a good idea (it is but there’s more to it than that) but because God has given us pleasures like food (or sex or recreation, etc.) to enjoy and praise Him. His praise and glory are the end result of these things, not the things themselves. Beware of anything that’s an end in and of itself save for Jesus Christ. This is why we “pace ourselves” and don’t indulge the flesh. This is why we exercise self-control – because nothing is for the flesh, but for God. To confuse this is to invert the moral purpose of life and trade God’s pleasure for our own, which ruins us. This is what it means to seek first His Kingdom and its righteousness and these other things will be added unto you.
Thus, to be trained in godliness is to be thankful to the Lord in all things and to make it a joyous habit to praise Him always.
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