Have you found [pleasure sweet like] honey? Eat only as much as is sufficient for you, lest, being filled with it, you vomit it. – Proverbs 25:16, Amplified Bible (AMP)

I love Krispy Kreme doughnuts! I love them so much, as a matter of fact, that I have downloaded the Krispy Kreme app to my iPhone. I can pull out my phone, turn on the app, and know immediately if the “Hot Now” light is shining at the nearest Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. Wonderful!

If I let myself, I could down close to a dozen original glazed doughnuts in one sitting. How do I know this? Because I one time downed eight of those bad boys in less than five minutes. With the eighth doughnut I earned the title of “Doughnut Eating Champion” at the company I work for, but I’m not so sure it was worth it. Although I enjoyed every second of my victorious eating frenzy, it didn’t take long for the sugar overload to make me dizzy and sick to my stomach. I was worthless the rest of the day.

My “Doughnut Champion Experience” is a perfect example of Proverbs 25:16 in action. But, Proverbs 25:16 applies to so much more than our sweettooths. Any pleasure in life, even a holy one, will make us sick if we consume too much of it. Take, for example, Martha’s drive to serve Jesus. There is nothing more noble and more pleasurable than serving The Lord, but Martha was so consumed with the effort that she neglected the most needful thing: fellowship with God. Martha was stressed, she was annoyed with her sister, and she was anxious, all because she took something – a wonderful something – to an extreme.

We can eat too much and get sick. We can work too much and get sick. We can play too much and get sick. And, we can serve too much and get sick. Remember that, although God chose not to reiterate the Sabbath day commandment to the New Testament church, the principle behind the Sabbath day remains true to this day: we need to give things a rest from time to time. Even when it comes to the good, holy pleasures of life, we need to exercise moderation. If we take on more than is sufficient for us to take on, we run the risk of making other aspects of our lives sick from neglect.