What is really important to you?

They say, where you spend your money, your time, your effort, shows what is most important to you.

So what does that look like for you?

Does it show something that gets in the way of God’s presence in your life?

You wouldn’t really guess mine if I asked you. Most of you wouldn’t anyhow.

Food.

Mine is food. Food is an idol for me. It’s a stumbling block and impacts my spirit in a negative manner if I do not reign it in. If I do not place constraints on my eating, truth be told, all hell doesn’t break loose, but the battle between my flesh and spirit gets very real.

What does this mean?

Sin

We do not have a TV. The only technology we pay for is internet and cell phones, and that is by far enough.

As a married man of God, I need to guard my eyes and ears with a vengeance. Even if I were not a married man, but still after God’s heart, I would need to guard my eyes and ears with an intentionality that rivals Rocky’s training.

Sex is so pervasive in today’s society. From ads on television, TV shows, and how people are used to sell products, to the words used on both TV and radio, a majority of the time they are using some reference to sex or sexy. It’s literally everywhere. What we feed our spirit can really dictate the strength of our walk with God.

Anger management

I have a temper. When my temper rears its ugly head, it is ugly. I am not godly. I embarrass myself. I curse. Take the Lord’s name in vain.

I have anger issues. 

It is ugly through and through and it is sinful. 

Well, I mentioned before about  feeding our spirit, and this plugs so very well into my vice, food. I “love” food. I enjoy eating. I’m not overly adventurous, but I like variety and it’s not all healthy. Pack me a donut anytime of the day. Fried food goes down so very easy. And the more butter and creamy it is, oh so very good!

So how does this work to impact me in such a negative way?

Truth be told, I don’t fully understand it myself, but I believe it is on the level of self denial. I like to eat until I am fully satisfied, and on occassion, over and above. And I like to eat that which sounds good to me.  

By leaving myself just a bit hungry and by not giving into the desire for that donut, fried food, milk shake, extra bowl of cereal, it changes things in my spirit.

Now I don’t eat all that bad and I don’t really consider myself to be gluttonous.

Anymore.

But I do like to eat to my fill.

For me, I find it is in the feeling of being self satisfied that causes me to stumble. It clouds my spirit from hearing God and makes me more susceptible to my sin nature. 

When I’m a little hungry for something, when I yearn for something and fail to fulfill it, there is something in my flesh that is cleansed and really weakened. 

I don’t know if this makes any sense at all.

I am not a person who practices the spiritual discipline of fasting very often. When I choose to fast, the results are limited at best and I never seem to meet my expectations.

Did you get that statement? Whose expectations?

However, when I do get that inclination in my spirit to fast, and I know it is from God, things change. My spirit is more sensitive to hearing God and my flesh is not as confrontational against my spirit.

Note to self:

There is a potential distraction in the midst of this. The scale. 

If I measure my flesh it distracts from the Spirit and makes it about the flesh once again. Satan is indeed tricky. 

So, though hungry, that hungry feeling I can not allow to translate back to the flesh via the scale and turn fasting into a weight loss program. 

If there is one area that is the game changer in my spiritual walk, it is food, and leaving myself a little more empty, makes much more room for God.

To be more empty, I guess you could say makes me more full.