Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick! Proverbs 25:16 (NLT)
We’ve been on a series over the past few days discussing the traps many people fall into as they search for happiness. One common trap is looking to pleasure to bring happiness. Many turn to work, food, shopping or sports for the happiness they crave. While there’s nothing wrong with these, things can quickly get out of balance. After all, pleasure is meant to be the dessert of life, not the main course.
God has given us plenty of good, healthy things to enjoy in this lifetime. He’s given you the ability to enjoy great food, music and fun. But if you haven’t developed the ability to experience joy, these things won’t bring happiness.
When you’re really hungry, you don’t crave desserts. You crave real, main course food. When you’re done the main course and you haven’t eaten too much, a dessert is nice, but too many sweets on an empty stomach will make you feel sick. The same is true of the pleasures of life. Too much without the balance of some hard work and self-sacrifice and you won’t feel right.
Proverbs 25:16 says that when it comes to honey, eat only what is sufficient. God gave us honey, and it can help make life wonderful, just as He’s given us all kinds of pleasures in life. But if you have too much of any one thing, it begins to hurt instead of help you.
Enjoy the good things of life, but go after the joy Jesus says you can have—joy that remains regardless of your circumstances. Stay tuned over the next few days as we unwire more false sources of happiness and discover skills for developing true joy.