Feasting on Jelly Beans

For most of us there are certain foods that we have a weakness for. In my case that food is jelly beans. They have been a favorite of mine since I was a child. If I could eat anything that I wanted jelly beans would make up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Obviously I don’t eat them three times a day. For one thing it would make me sick, but more importantly food like jelly beans will not truly satisfy my hunger.

Our body needs nutritious food that includes proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Sugar from junk food may give us lots of energy for a short amount of time. But soon we will crash from our sugar high and become even hungrier than before. The point is it takes more than sugar to satisfy our bodies.

In our physical body is a hunger that can only be filled with food that is good for us. Filling that hunger with jelly beans will be pointless. We also have a spiritual hunger in our hearts, a hunger for happiness. And it can only be satisfied with healthy spiritual food. This is the kind of food that only comes from a close relationship with God.

But most of us try to fill that desire for happiness with “spiritual jelly beans”. This can be things like money, romantic relationships, success at work, and material possessions. But these “jelly beans” don’t satisfy our hunger either. They may give us a momentary feeling of happiness, but that feeling will quickly pass like a physical sugar high.

Scripture tells us the story of man who feasted on spiritual jelly beans. He had everything the world could possibly offer. But yet in the end all he could say was, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2).” In Ecclesiastes we see King Solomon’s search for significance (happiness) in life. He was on of the most powerful, if not the most powerful king in the history of Israel. But his power, riches, and fame could not satisfy the longing in his heart.

Yet while Solomon feasted on spiritual junk food God offered to him the one thing that could fulfill his hunger. And the same thing is offered to us today. The longing for happiness in our hearts was created by God himself, and can only be filled by a relationship of dependence upon him. In other words we come to God, and ask him to fulfill our spiritual hunger. When we do he will give to us a feast of spiritual truth that bring a joy and peace that rises above circumstances. Physical and spiritual jelly beans are not bad things necessarily. But they are meant to be a desert that finishes a meal, not the meal.