Bittersweet

Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
Job 20:12–15
+
Bittersweet
We live in a land of abundance, where even the poorest amongst us worry not of starvation but of obesity.  We have a real problem with self-control, whether it be with food or drink, lust or luxury, we just cannot ever get enough.  We overindulge until we are sick.  If you don’t believe this, look at the world and see the excess of sin which pervades, look in the mirror and recall the sin you struggle with.  The one you keep going back to again and again.  We revel in the temporary pleasure our sin brings us, even when we know the pain and anguish of guilt.  Sin has a way of doing this to us.  God’s Word warns us of this, “For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps” (Deuteronomy 32:32–33). So, what are we to do. How to we break this addiction? The truth is we don’t, but Christ does.  Christ takes all these sins which are sweet to us and carries them to the cross.  There their bitter truth is laid bare, and the wrath of God destroys them, and cast them out.  And in the soothing water of Baptism, we are made clean.  Sins forgiven, life restored, we are new creations in Christ.  And in His love, we are fed the sweet victory over sin, death, and the devil.  In Him we are satisfied. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).