The Art of Moderation

Moderation. 

We talk about it. We advocate it. We know we should practice it. But is it our first impulse?

To know the answer, we need only look around. We need not look any further than our own life. There is something deep within our psyche that urges us to either overdo or underdo anything we take on. 

We can spend more energy defending our reasons for either obsessively pursuing an ideal, or staunchly avoiding a practice, than we can spend actually discovering what God wants us to do.

The answer isn't very complicated. Nothing in a believer's life should take the place of their love for Christ and commitment to following the clear instructions outlined in the Bible.

But spend any amount of time on Facebook or in the bookstore or in the grocery store or at the mall or in government, you quickly start to see the natural bent of the human condition. If it is good to eat healthy and exercise, it must be REALLY good to live on veggies and supplements, go gluten free, oil up, spend massive amounts of money on systems and products, and hit the gym as hard as you can every day, whether everything and everyone else in your life suffers or not. 

If it's good to provide options and care for those who might be tempted to turn to abortion, it must be REALLY good to go on a crusade to have the laws reflect our belief and to expose the evil deeds of the guilty. If it's good to live according to the Word and avoid what God says won't work in sex and relationships, it must be REALLY good to attack unbelievers who have been convinced by the circumstances of their life that they have no other option. It must be righteous of us to refuse to serve them, to fight for laws to prevent their legal unions. To shame them, somehow, into saving faith in Christ.

We all have to know better. We all have to be assured that this has never worked, and it never will. Shaming, hateful and arrogant, ignorant attacks have never produced genuine salvation in anyone. Likewise, as believers, our home is not this present world.

We are visitors. We're from out of town. We aren't going to stay here, and this life was never meant to be our perfect vision. 

It's the drawback of having a country that was founded on biblical principles. When we start to believe that we can have it all, that our every desire can be met and every discomfort avoided, we start to believe that everyone around us is getting in our way. We start to forget that God promised the life of a Christian would not be easy, and would often reflect the suffering of Jesus. We forget to be humble, and to remember where we came from, and what we were saved from.

Did Jesus eat healthy? Jesus probably ate whatever was offered, what others thoughtfully provided for him. He probably ate mostly fish, olives, dates and bread. He often fasted in order to pray more effectively. We can be certain that Jesus didn't have an entitled, over-zealous attitude about food, one way or the other. Can you imagine Jesus going on a tirade on facebook because he felt others were judging his eating habits? 

That being said, while Jesus lived in a culture where food may have been plentiful, it was all obtained through hard work and nature. We have a culture of people that crave so much, many of our foods have to be modified and filled and preserved to extremes. Our sustenance has become a business. Is it sin to eat this food, and eat so much of it even after we are aware those foods aren't good for the one body we get for our entire life?

God intends for us to enjoy the food He created for our bodies to benefit from. But I've learned the hard way that I am responsible to find foods and limits and abstentions that give me the best chance of getting through the day and fulfilling my responsibilities without being ill, tired or overburdened. I am a steward of the body God gave me. Sin makes it not work perfectly. But just as you would keep up the maintenance on a car you hope to last you a while, we have to learn to take care of our bodies and say no to our cravings that, in the end, cause us harm.

Does that mean we are responsible for others' bodies? If I see a cartful of junk food in the cart of a believer ahead of me at the checkout, am I obligated to say something? 

We are all in a different place. If we are believers, God has each of us on a plan that will get us where we need to be. Some of us are new to that process, others have been tweaked by God most of our lives. If you try to play God in someone else's life - or worse - try to shame an unbeliever into making decisions only a Holy Spirit-filled heart is capable of making, you are working against His methods and slowing down His work.

It's all about learning to control our desires and become moderate people. Moderate in our dress, in our diet, in our words, in our emotions, in our reactions, in our expectations. We should be moderate about everything, in fact, save our love and devotion to Christ. That means that the only thing we are passionate about is furthering the Gospel. That will take a few different forms, and branch out in a few different areas from the specific gifts and talents we've been given by God, but it's never going to take you so far that you are indifferent, apathetic, hateful, judgmental or cynical. It's never going to lead you into any sort of addiction to food, entertainment, money, drugs, sex or alcohol. When you fall into those negative places and find yourself at odds with everyone and uncomfortable in your life and in your skin, when you struggle to find any time left over for the things (people) that matter for eternity, you've probably gone off the course of moderation.

It's not something any of us come by easily. It's a process of learning to tell our selves NO when something (other than our love for Christ and for people) has become too important to us, and to motivate ourselves when we are distracted and unconcerned about the things that are important to our Savior.

It's a process that is worth the risk, and worth the humbling, and worth the uphill climb. It's a process that brings us closer to the only pursuit that will matter in the end.

Moderation in everything else leaves our hearts free to love Jesus with abandon.