When to say enough
by Jono PeatmanA Note of Sensitivity: For Those Affected by Eating Disorders
As we explore the topic of fasting in this post, we acknowledge that this may be a sensitive area for those who are journeying through or recovering from eating disorders or disordered eating. If you feel this content might be unhelpful for you, we encourage you to take care of yourself and seek support from trusted individuals or professionals.So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
Genesis 2 : 1 - 3
I remember vividly the day that I last experienced true physical exhaustion.
My in-laws were moving house, had decided to do the move themselves in a hired a van. We spent the morning dismantling furniture and carrying it at unusual angles through tight door frames. Many calls of ‘pivot’ were made!
It felt like we had got most of the house done, I was really aching and then we realised there was one more thing to move.
The piano!
I took a deep breath, summoned the little strength I had left in my arms and assisted the rest of the family in lugging this piano out of the house, onto the driveway. At that point, I hadn’t remembered that we then needed to also get it up and into the van. Much panting, heaving and lifting later, we eventually got this piano into the van, but it very nearly broke me!
In contrast to this frantic, exhausted activity, in Genesis 2 we get an insight into God's posture and priority. In Genesis 1, He has spent 6 days bringing order to chaos, calling creation into being and breathing life into every creature.
Then in Genesis 2, he rests as he has finished the work he needed to do. This is the ultimate exhibition of self control. The God who could do anything, who could continue to tinker, who could lug more and more furniture around until he is blue in the face chooses to stop, be still and rest.
We are told in Genesis 1 that humanity is made in the image of God, but it is hard to know exactly what that means. Theologian Marty Soloman suggests that exhibiting self control and knowing when to say ‘enough’ is the thing that sets humanity apart from other animals and demonstrates our divine image bearing capacity.
Wild beasts will continue to kill prey, regardless of how many other animals they have killed that day. However, humanity has a unique ability to make a conscious choice, and say no to those desires.
Where sin longs for us to surrender to our desires and indulge, God offers us another path. It’s a narrower, more difficult one, but practices like fasting and sobriety can be so helpful in building our resilience, and taking back control from the desires that can so easily overtake us.
In doing so, we inhabit our God-given identity as bearers of his image. What desires do you have that tempt you to act with no self control?
Can you adopt some disciplines and practices in your life that help to hold you accountable to not surrendering to those desires, and help you to stand strong in who God has made you to be?
Perhaps you could intentionally pray this week to be filled again with the Holy Spirit, and that the fruit of self control would grow powerfully in your own life.
