What a day! It has been pretty much non-stop from start to finish, and my body is feeling every minute of it! Father, please enable my brain to focus on the word that needs to be spread. Amen.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (<<click here to read the passage)
One movie that I look back fondly upon is the 1971 movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For whatever reason, I have never read the 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, upon which the movie is based, and I don’t care for the 2005 movie rendering by the same name. The story is of a poor child named Charlie Bucket who, upon finding a Golden Ticket in a chocolate bar, wins the chance to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory along with four other children from around the world.
During the tour, each child’s character flaws cause them to give in to temptation, resulting in their unusual elimination. Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous German boy, gets sucked up a pipe after falling into the chocolate river; American Violet Beauregarde, who chews gum constantly, swells up, becoming a giant blueberry; Veruca Salt, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy English father, falls down a garbage chute; and American Mike Teevee, who is obsessed with television, is shrunk to the size of a chocolate bar. The Oompa Loompas, Wonka’s small in stature workforce, sing a song of morality after each disposal.
Charlie is not innocent either but redeems himself after being disqualified by not seeking revenge against Wonka when he returns an Everlasting Gobstopper instead of giving it to one of Wonka’s (supposed) competitors.
When reading today’s passage from the Amplified Bible, verse 12 caught my attention.
Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything [and brought under its power, allowing it to control me].
The aforementioned fictional characters were solidly affixed to a variety of things. In and of themselves, there was nothing wrong with these “things” – food, material things, television…even gum. But their over-the-top fixation on those things led to their downfall.
Normal inclinations are fine, but overindulgence of almost anything can be detrimental. Sex, alcohol, gambling, eating, and sleeping…all can lead to debilitating and destructive problems when they enslave us. It goes from us controlling them to they very much so controlling us.
Giving ourselves – our bodies – over to God balances it all out. We can enjoy whatever the Lord gives us, but allowing Him to control our intake of them keeps Him in control and not them.
Verse 20 reads,
You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body. AMP
(Oh, and thank You, Father! The focus came!)
Oct 25th, 2023, Wed, 7:49 pm
