Craving God
                On the journey of weight loss, one cannot address their “issues” with weight without conquering cravings.  From insatiable cravings for chocolate to unending cravings for French fries, if you’ve tried to lose weight, you’ve had them.
                So how do we fight the battle of cravings to win the war on weight loss?  It all starts with understanding our temptations.  And there’s no better place to learn about temptation than in the bible. 
                Take Eve, the first person to ever be tempted.  Surrounded by unimaginable beauty and tranquility, yet she was quickly enticed with the idea of having more.  As we read about Eve’s temptation, we realize that once tempted, her focus was on attaining what she desired.  Nothing else mattered. I need not spell out the outcome, the rest as they say, is history.
                Fast forward a few hundred years and be enthralled by another incredible story of temptations.
                Before Jesus would go and bear the burden and sin for the rest of the world, he would spend forty days and forty nights alone in the wilderness alone to contemplate his future and be tempted by the best.  Satan appears and tempts Jesus in the most of personal ways, pushing his buttons so to speak.  Realizing Jesus had not eaten, he tempts him with food.  Realizing what lay ahead he tempts him with an escape route.  Lastly, going for what he reeled Eve in with, he tempts him with power.
                The shining difference in these two examples and the lesson for you and me is not that we have a chance to be perfect like Jesus, but what we can learn from him.  Jesus responded not by focusing on the temptations (or cravings) at hand, but on the word of God to free him.
                Three times he was tempted and three times, he quoted scripture.  When was the last time I quoted scripture in a time of turmoil, temptation or craving?
                We can only overcome the battles of life in worldly ways for so long.  Avoiding temptations and not thinking about my pain can only be successful for so long.
                I must realize that in God’s perfect design, he created me to CRAVE HIM.  God never intended for us to want anything more than we want him, or to turn to anything else for comfort, satisfaction, acceptance, worth, reward, joy, relief from stress, sadness, or to find happiness.
                I must learn to conquer temptation the way Jesus did, through scripture.  The next time you are faced with an overwhelming craving, quote the very scripture Jesus used, “No, the scriptures say, people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Matthew 4:4

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