Devotion: Held Captive by Cravings
1 Corinthians 1:4-7
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When my oldest daughter was in grade school, we picked out a scripture verse to memorize for the week based on things that were going on in our everyday life. I can specifically remember memorizing “Be content with what you have”. As I type that into my Bible App today, I can’t find the specific verse that it comes from and I have a sneaky suspicion that I may have altered scripture to fit perfectly with the struggles we were facing that week. Things such as walking into Target and being bombarded with, “Can I have this?” or “Look, isn’t this nice?” or “I love this- can I add it to my Christmas list?” I’m not pretending that she’s the only one longing for things she doesn’t have, as I am just as guilty of those feelings. I get sucked into wanting a better coffeepot because mine doesn’t have a single-serve brewer feature or wondering if my relationships measure up after I scroll through my Instagram feed.
I have thought of that scripture verse many times over the years and was reminded again on Sunday during Pastor Michelle’s children’s message. She told a story of siblings who were very happy with their box of 8 crayons until they learned there were boxes that had 24 crayons and bigger boxes with 48 crayons and even bigger boxes with 200 crayons. We can all relate to wishing for bigger things when we see what we don’t have, even if what we were using was perfectly fine.
In the book “Radical Gratitude,” Mary Jo Leddy identifies these longings as cravings and states, “The problem is not the shopping that is a normal part of sustaining existence. The problem arises when we think that we are buying identity, meaning
Gracious Father, Thank you for loving us just as we are. Help us to remember that you think we are good enough and sent Jesus to be our Savior. Help us to remember your amazing grace and your son’s sacrificial love. Amen
Written by Julie Anderson
Julie Anderson is a member of Sheridan’s Devotion Writing Team. She works part-time as Sheridan’s Children’s Music Coordinator where she is passionate about teaching children to use their musical gifts to praise God. Julie is married to Scott and counts her greatest honor as being mom to Adrienne, Eliot and Elise.