Appetites Part 3

Here is a question I have for everyone.

When is it healthy to follow your appetites, and when is it destructive, or maybe even not the best.

For instance, reading appetites. Should I be more disciplined as a reader and read those things that are going to help me learn a new thing, or should I just follow my natural hunger for learning where it leads me?

On a related note, I am speaking on a similar subject for our Youth Sunday this Sunday.

The sermon is on Genesis 25:19-34, where Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentils.

One of my points is going to be that being undisciplined and following our appetites can leave us unsatisfied, and alienate us from the blessings that God wants to give to us.

In Esau's case he comes in from hunting and wants "the red stuff. that red stuff. Give it to me." Jacob sells it to him for his birthright. Then Esau eats his bowl of soup, which has now been more succinctly described as lentil stew.

There are lots of things that from one end look really good and satisfying, and yet from the other end look unexciting and not worth the cost.

For me it is soda. And candy bars. And fast food. And Tostitos with cheese dip. But right now for the most part I dont have them in my diet. For others it may be drugs, or alcohol. Or a sexual relationship that is unhealthy or sexual promiscuity. Still for others it might be violence. Or building your life around the accumulation of wealth. Or seeking status. Or even being religious for religion's sake can be an empty pursuit.

What makes it harder is that all these people are pitching you all these differnt things aimed at you having unhealthy appetites toward things so that they can benefit. They hook you in. And then you wonder why you are beholden to something so unsatisfying. You believed the lie.

So the point is to share this with recent graduates, is a fairly positive way. So that as they go, they are at once called to stand strong in the world they will soon enter without as many boundaries and rules, and yet at the same time encourage them to open their arms to God who is waiting to bless them.

Any ideas?