It was many years ago when one of my elders took me aside and told me a story. I'm not sure why but I think he felt I was prone to excess. In those days telling a story was a way to correct some character flaw. Sometimes it took and sometimes not.
Anyway as the story went the scene was an old fashion general store where in front of the counters were barrels with beans, sugar, salt, potatoes and the like were displayed. The grocer notice a boy who happened to be about my age who would stick his finger in his mouth and when he thought the grocer wasn't looking he put his finger in the sugar and then in his mouth. He would repeat this several time.
The grocer knew what he was doing and he said to the boy; go ahead and eat all you want. With some trepidation the boy began to eat and continued until the grocer notice him just standing there staring. He asked him didn't he like the sugar? The boy answered it was good until it got down to the salt! What happen was his taste buds became overwhelmed and the sugar lost its taste.
I waited for an explanation or what you might call "The moral of the story is," but I was just left hanging. That didn't completely cure my desire for excess but it did have its effect that lasts till today.
The Bible is full of warnings about greed and excess and many examples are written as warnings.
1 Corinthians 10:11 All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us. For we live at a time when the end is about to come.
We thrive on titillation both mentally and physically which can lead to excess. Take the story about David and Bathsheba. First he saw and then nothing would satisfy until the lesser sin occurred which led to the greater.
Solomon, it is said had 1000 women and still he wasn't satisfied but rather was unsatisfied - - shouting vanity, vanity all is vanity.
He had it all but all wasn't enough to quench this thriving force within his soul.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. Ecclesiastes 1:8 Everything leads to weariness---a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.
Caution must be taken concerning legitimate things, not to get carried away by desires and to beware of the illegitimate which leads to sorrow.
Be moderate or your sugar will turn to salt!
This post is Linked up today with Michelle’s Hear it on Sunday Use it on Monday
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