Joel M Bradshaw

7All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.–Ecclesiastes 6

I remember a time when my wife took me to a sushi buffet. It was expensive and so I ate until I was stuffed. I was so full that it hurt. I thought I even was going to get sick. I recall feeling ashamed as a large man and veteran of many buffet lunches that I might not be able to handle the aftermath of such a meal. But even though I felt that night that I might never eat again, I still had breakfast the next morning.

I recall many years ago cleaning up after a party at my frat house in college and running into one of my friends who had gotten drunk the night before. As we were bagging up empty bottles and sweeping the floor, he kept commenting that the mere smell of alcohol was going to make him sick. “I’ll never touch vodka again, JB” he told me many times. I recall him drinking again the following weekend and bagging those bottles.

Appetites are like that. They never are satisfied. Even when a person thinks they have fully ended an appetite, it comes back strong again. Living for one’s appetites is therefore not wise. There have to be options that are not tied to the temporary or temporal. This is why many addicts find hope and healing in a program like Celebrate Recovery. At CR we hold Jesus Christ to be our higher power. This means that we ultimately answer to Him and honor Him with our ‘one day at a time’ decisions.

Rather than being driven by daily appetites, focus on eternity. The pursuit of self-denial brings a wonderful and interesting challenge to life. For your appetites will wage war against you. It’s also the only life that truly follows Jesus and leads to eternal life in Heaven.–JMB