Those who know me know that I like food. I like to eat. As a kid one summer at our lake house I went
as far as declaring, “Food is my quest.”
Since then I’ve been on that quest of finding God’s creative flavors in
almost anything put before me. The thing
about eating though is that if you eat more calories than you burn, weight
gains is actually the quest you are on.
In the winter of 2012 I had ballooned to a weight that I, nor my wife,
was happy with. So, I had to make a
change and make some hard decisions. How
does one with an epic quest for food suddenly curb his appetite and begin
shedding the pounds?
Needless to say it was a process, but one totally worth
it. I still long for the scintillating
feeling of food causing my taste buds to explode. I still have urges that drive me to eat. Sometimes I give into those urges and make
poor food choices. However, knowing is
half the battle. In “Spiritual
Leadership,” Oswald Sanders asks a series of questions to investigate
leadership potential, and the first one he lists reminds me of my food
lessons. He asks, “How do you identify
and deal with bad habits?” He then says,
“To lead others, you must master your
appetites.” I doubt Sanders was
thinking about my quest for food, but the parallels are uncanny. What Sanders is speaking to is the desires
each person has.
In our lives, we all have habits and lifestyles. We all have urges that pull our attention,
shift our focus, and perhaps cause to step off course. If we are going to be effective leaders, we
must identify these potential pitfalls and overcome the bad habits that prevent
us from leading others well. In the
words of Sanders, we must master our
appetites so that God can use us for His plan. This world bombards us with advertisements,
promotions, and other nonsense to try to draw our appetites to its
offerings. We must be diligent and
discipline to keep focused on God and what He offers, especially if God has
entrusted us to lead others on a daily basis.
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