CRAVE

Cravings…we’ve all had them. Most of the time we associate craving with a particular food item, but we can also crave fame, fortune, or status. To crave something means to have a great and powerful desire for it. Any woman who has ever been pregnant or been around a woman who is pregnant has possibly seen the effects of cravings. When I was pregnant with my first child, I craved Mexican food. We visited our local Mexican restaurant so many times during that nine-month stint that the waitresses knew us by name and knew our order. With my second child, it was ice cream. Any kind of ice cream would do, but I had to have ice cream at least once a day. If you have ever had a craving, you know that nothing else, but the exact item you are wanting will suffice. There have been many instances where people have very specific cravings that must be met and some have been very awkward. When you are having one, you will go to the ends of the earth, or make someone else go to great lengths to make this craving a reality.

In 1 John, John encourages his readers not to love this world or the things of it. In 1 John 2:15-18 it states,

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

The first craving is physical pleasure or physical desires. Secondly, he refers to a craving for everything we see or materialism, coveting, or accumulating things. Lastly, he warns against the craving for achievement and possessions or status and importance. Satan has used these same general areas of craving or temptation throughout all time. If you think back to Eve in the garden, and the very first sin (Genesis 3), Satan tempted her in the same ways. He tempted her with physical desire by enticing her with beautiful and delicious fruit. He also tempted her with her craving of coveting by having her desire the one item she was forbidden to have when she had freedom of choice for all other trees in the garden. Lastly, she was tempted with status and importance as Satan stated that her eyes would be opened and that she would be equal to God if she ate of this fruit. In the same way, Satan tempted Jesus (Matthew 4) as he encouraged him to eat and fulfill his physical desire, jump off the highest point in the city and thus have achievement or be seen as one of the greatest around, and lastly offered Christ the kingdoms of this world or everything He could see.

John warns his readers of three main cravings that show love for the world over the love for Christ. Some people think that worldliness is associated only with external things. However, worldliness is internal because it begins with the heart and our cravings.

As Christians today, we should realize that Satan hasn’t changed his game plan throughout history and he is still causing defeat through these same three cravings. We must be aware of this and not fall prey to these cravings, but rather focus on what pleases the Lord. God honors and values things like love, self-control, generosity, and humility. When was the last time you had a strong desire for those qualities? When was the last time that nothing else would satisfy but Christ? Quench those cravings that show love for the world and develop spiritual cravings that will last forever!

This blog was written by Amy Carrico: Author of Making the Moments Matter Blog

Last Updated on April 29, 2024