check ur lens - sugar style

Got glasses for the first time in my life this year. My wife boldly scheduled my appointment with the optometrist — didn’t even know what that was — behind my back.

Sure enough, the appointment comes, they put me in this chair and all these mechanical things are pushed up in my grill making things blurry. Doc tells me some numbers, and asks some questions about my eyes and boom I’m walking out of the office with glasses. (They were actually being built… took a few weeks.)

They show up, I put them on, and all of a sudden my eyes stop hurting when I’m reading. It’s like magic. Or, it’s just upgrading the way I was functioning. Easily confused with magic. Plus they are super fly and match up with my grey coming in…totally beside the point.

See, I had grown accustomed to my eyes hurting when editing videos and reading my Bible. My head would often hurt when I focused for longer than a few minutes. Only rarely would I stop, become aware of it, and address the issue.

Why?

Try and make an internal list of things bothering you right now, and ask the question: Am I doing anything about that?

Sure, maybe you’re addressing a symptom or two. I could take ibuprofen all day long, soothing some pain, but addressing an issue in my life takes effort, intentionality, and dependency on Jesus.

I would love to invite you to join me over the next few weeks in checking our lenses in a few areas of our lives that are hindering us from abiding with Jesus, and experiencing the benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sugar.

This is normally the part of the blog post where I would say something scientific and spiritual — at the same time — but you all can use the google machine yourself. And I’m not tryna tell you what to do, rather I’m tryna tell you to be connected to Jesus.

The question I want to ask is this:

What is your relationship with sugar or food?

Take a moment and ask Holy Spirit.

Adjusting your lens is simply stopping your norm and looking at it. Did Holy Spirit speak anything? Remind you of anything? I’d be glad to give you some tips on how to be healthy, but again, the invitation for us this year is to remain in the Lord. To develop lifestyles of intimate connection with Him.

Take a moment and give Him permission to speak into your relationship with sugar.

The last two months I have been engaging in this prayer: Jesus, help me give you my attention.

A few days ago was no different. I was hanging with Him and we started dialoguing about desire. What could it look like to not just give Jesus my attention, but for my desire to really go out to Him? For my heart to get drawn out into the mysteries of heaven? Sitting in that was glorious.

Then God turns the page on me, and begins talking to me about food! It was a bit of a shock-turned-disbelief. God began unpacking how I let my heart and desire get satisfied in food. Mint oreos. Chipotle. Forty-four ounce strawberry limeades from Sonic. The new KitKat mint duos. All seemingly trivial at face value. Until I allow myself to stop and look at what is satisfying my heart. None of these are “problems.” The problem is that the competition for my heart is being waged, and I am at times choosing food and sugar over Jesus.

After a long work day or emotional engagement, it’s easy for me to stop by the store for a quick pick-me-up. In between kid pick-ups, what’s wrong with grabbing something at the drive-thru, right? Nothing. Until I stop and allow myself to take a look at the desire of my heart. I’ve disconnected and am unsatisfied with my union with Jesus, and am turning to artificial stimulants.

Many of you that know me could almost dismiss this. You may know me as a physically healthy person. However, the invite this year is not to mostly remain in Jesus. The choice I have made is not to love God with most of me. Anything stealing from my desire and attention I want to address. I don’t want to “fix it,” rather I want to take it into my relationship with Jesus and ask Him to show me Himself.

At the end of the day my heart doesn’t need me to be forceful with it. It needs me to take it back to Jesus and see Him, to remain in Him, to enjoy the bliss of the Kingdom and to put sugar in its place.

Would you join me this week? Ask Holy Spirit if you have a skewed relationship with sugar and food. Expect the delight and joy of Jesus to draw out your heart and satisfy you this week.

Psalm 16:11

“You have made known to me the path of life; You fill me with joy in Your Presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”