Hard To Shake The Habit

I have removed all the snacks and treats from my pantry

2 Kings 23:1-37

Reference: “He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭23:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Explore: I’m currently trying to be on a healthy eating plan. In doing so, I have prepared a lot of my meals and count the amount of calories in each dish.

To make my life a little easier, I have removed all the snacks and treats from my pantry. Usually there is a block of chocolate and a number of lollies on the top shelf but I have removed them all.

This is so, when my motivation is waning, I don’t have easy access to high calorie foods. By removing them I am reducing my chance of falling back into bad habits.

This certainly helps a lot when I’m at home, but I can never remove all the bad food that may come across my path. There are often sweets at work or cakes at parties or fried food as an easy option for dinner.

It helps to remove the temptation, but I still need to have the determination to hold my ground when something tempting arises.

Application: In the time of 2 Kings it seems there were some bad habits the people were struggling to break too. While devouring a whole block of chocolate is not great for me, the habit of the people in 2 Kings 23 was to worship other gods.

The good King Josiah wanted to follow God with all his heart and soul, so he removed all the worship places dedicated to other gods. This helped the people rely on the one true God and to prioritise their worship of Him.

However, even with a powerful King, the temptation was not fully taken away. As soon as Josiah passed away, the new king brought the other gods back in and the people were taken in by temptation.

We all have things that tempt us in the wrong direction. It’s good to remove them as much as possible, but the truth is they will often rear their heads again and again.

We need to be like King Josiah who was dedicated in making God the only One for him to worship. Yes, remove temptation but don’t get lazy thinking you won’t find something else that appeals to you.

Following God is not one moment in time; it is a lifetime of choosing Him above all else.

Prayer: Lord, I choose You today.  I hold You as my one true priority and live today to serve You. Amen.

How are you going to make God your priority today?

2 Kings, diet, food, habit, priority, temptation, worship