Beware, it's everywhere

And it's dangerous. Check out this article about how simply looking at a picture of a treat is enough to make you crave something sweet. Be forewarned that they put a piece of tasty looking chocolate cake right at the top of the article.
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12421650-photos-of-sugary-treats-may-spark-cravings-study-finds?lite

 But I didn't need an article to tell me that when I see sweet, I want sweet. I just have to think about what happens every time I see the York peppermint patty commercial. Yep, you got it. "Stephen, you wanna go to the gas station and get me a York?" Or when I see those pictures of Chick-fil-A's peach milkshake...mmm...gotta have one. That's one of the major reasons getting off--and more importantly, staying off--sugar is so difficult. It's everywhere, tantalizing me to just have one bite. It's like the garden of Eden all over again. It's sweet, it's delicious, one bite won't hurt, but the next thing you know you've eaten a whole pan of chocolate chip cookies and ruined your day.

So with temptation everywhere, why bother trying to kick the sugar habit at all? Well, aside from the fact that it makes me feel miserable, I am convicted that sugar has mastered me. When I find myself thinking things like, "I can't live without it," I know that it has become a sweet idol in my life.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

I do not feel like there is anything sinful about eating sugar. In fact, the promised land that the Lord gave the Israelites was a placed described as being full of sweetness.

Deuteronomy 26:9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

The problem is when sugar has become my master. I want it, I depend on it, I use it to cope. Sounds like a false god to me. It's time for a sugar fast, both to let my body heal and to let my spirit taste the sweetness of the Lord.