This summer, I’ve taken a break from eating dessert.
No brownie or cookie after dinner. No ice cream or chocolate Frosty either. Not even a snack-sized bag of gummy bears. And let me tell you, it has been h-a-r-d. Much harder for this sugar addict than I ever thought it could be. I didn’t realize how unfulfilled I would feel without my tasty treat at the end of the day. I didn’t know how much those bits of sweet goodness had become my reward for a job well done or my coping mechanism for a day of frustration or insecurity.
Yet the biggest surprise of all has been this revelation: Why don’t I feel this same way when I skip spending time with God? Why don’t I crave Him? Why don’t I recognize the loss or feel any sense of spiritual unfulfillment?
Perhaps there’s a lesson here—when life is good, we quickly forget goodness comes from God. We take for granted His gifts. We don’t remember how much we need Him.
Perhaps there’s also a vulnerable prayer we might be willing to pray in such times: Lord, keep me aware of Your goodness. Help me always make space in my heart to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).
What would it look like for you to be “filled with all the fullness of God” today?
The “fullness of God,” after all, is unconditional love poured out in “breadth and length and height and depth” (Ephesians 3:18). It’s His courage instead of fear, His peace instead of anxiety. It’s acceptance and reconciliation. It’s significance and purpose. It’s hope, grace, compassion, rest, joy.
Who God is and what He provides us through Christ—His fullness—is sweeter than any sugary concoction our stomachs might ever crave. So, let’s remember His goodness and His faithfulness to us. And then, let’s bravely choose to embrace Him, to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
