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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, our look at Proverbs
chapter 23 today, as we walk through these verses of the book of Proverbs
together. The verse I've chosen out of Proverbs chapter 23, oh, you're just
going to love this one, especially if you happen to be in the middle of a diet,
getting ready for summer or after the holidays or whatever. Proverbs chapter 23
verse two says, control yourself if you have a big appetite.

Isn't that a clear to the point verse? Control yourself if you have a big
appetite. And no doubt that diet books are always among the best sellers.

And so because of that, we couldn't skip looking at this diet verse from the
book of Proverbs. In fact, the entire chapter, Proverbs chapter 23, focuses on
the dangers of eating too much and drinking too much. If you read most of the
diet books that are out there, they focus on the physical dangers of overeating
or of drinking too much.

It's certainly true that God is concerned about how we treat our bodies. They
are temples of the Holy Spirit. Proverbs, however, this chapter turns attention
instead to the spiritual dangers of overeating, of overdrinking.

Too much focus on any material thing causes you to lose your focus on God. You
try to find your satisfaction in some thing. Now, we need to eat and we should
enjoy eating.

The Bible tells us God has given us everything to enjoy. But even things that
are good, even things that we need like food, if that becomes a focus, then it
causes us to lose our focus on God. So let's just balance our thinking on this,
this chapter tells us.

You can focus too much on food by eating too much. That's called gluttony. You
can also overemphasize food by eating too little.

God has told us to enjoy what we eat, but not to live for what we eat or to
think that we're somehow more spiritual because of what we choose not to eat.
Now, just a quick aside here, the purpose of fasting in the Bible is not to make
you more spiritual. Did you know that?

Some people think, oh, I'm going to go on a fast. I'm not going to eat anything. And I
feel so spiritual because I did that.

The purpose of fasting is not to make you more spiritual. You are who you are.
The purpose of fasting is to help you to grow by giving you time to focus on
God.

It's our focus on God. Don't miss this. It is our focus on God whether we eat or
don't eat that makes us more like him.

And so this verse reminds us, if you have an overactive appetite, control it.
You can't totally stifle it. You have to control it.

Instead of a triple scoop ice cream, have a single scoop to the glory of God.
Control yourself if you have a big appetite. Why?

Because you don't want that appetite to begin to control your life. You want the
lordship of Jesus Christ to be the leading, the guiding influence in your life.
And we've talked about food today as we've focused on this but we all realize
there's a lot of appetites that can control our lives.

We can be controlled by an appetite for food. We can be controlled by an
appetite for power. We can be controlled by an appetite for sex.

We can be controlled by an appetite for talk. We can be controlled by an
appetite for entertainment. A lot of appetites can control our lives.

Control yourself if you have a big appetite. The Bible tells us that the secret
to self-control is depending on the Spirit of God in our lives to daily direct
us and guide us. So let's depend on Him right now.

Our Father, we come to you when we pray for the direction and guidance of your
Holy Spirit in our lives today. Once we became a believer in Jesus Christ, you
sent your Spirit into our lives to give a new direction, a new guidance. So we
didn't have to be controlled just by our appetites, but we can be controlled
now, directed, guided daily by this relationship that we have with you and by
the power, the personal power of God's Spirit in our daily lives.

And so today, instead of being controlled by my appetites, I pray that I would
be led by your Spirit so that the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and peace
and patience and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the
fruit of the Spirit is what would be seen in my life. I don't want to be known for
my appetites. I want to be known for my passion for you, my love for you.

And so God, help me today to live life directed by you, moment by moment. I pray
for your direction. In Jesus' name, amen.