My aunt and I were on our way to the grocery store when disaster struck.

“STOP THE CAR!”

Her head whipped towards the passenger seat, not understanding my words, but clearly grasping their urgency.

“STFHM VVE HURR!”

“Sarah! What’s wrong?!”

There wasn’t time to explain. I could feel myself going red in the face as I pounded my finger on the window switch, desperately trying to lower it.

“STFHM VVE HURR!”

She veered to the side of the road, and I flung my head over the car’s edge, spewing the mouthful of liquid onto the pavement.

“Sarah! What is it!? Are you alright!?”

I was a bit busy wiping my tongue on a napkin I’d snatched from the car’s side, but I managed to point a finger at the innocuous looking can sitting in the cup holder and croaked,

“That’s Sprite.”

Now, to the uninitiated, my reaction may seem a bit *eh-hem* extreme, but let me assure you, high fructose corn syrup and I do not agree.

Like, I will full on vomit and have a stomach ache for days if it gains entry.

Which is why, when I brought the can to my lips and took a sip of what I thought was sparkling water only to be met with cloying sweetness, I knew I had to spit.

It was honestly like the scene from Ratatouille where Emile takes a big ole bite of garbage and Remy sees him.

Only, I managed to be both Remy (the shrieker) and Emile (the spitter) simultaneously.

Why am I talking about this?

Well, friends, a couple of reasons, but high and chief among them is the fact that I think it’s about time we talk about dietary restrictions!

After all, if you know me, you know that I am, shall we say, picky about the things I eat?

Alistair Begg once said some of his congregation looked like a good bowl of mac n’ cheese would knock them dead, and when I heard that, I was like,

“Amen, pastor! You are 100% correct. If I ate dairy-coated, wheat noodles, we would need a resurrection.”

At the very least, people would think I was orally exorcising a demon.

And just to be clear, I wasn’t always this way.

Back in the day, I had no issue when it came to consuming gluten, dairy, eggs, sugar, soy, or nightshades.

However, over the last few years, my stomach has been avenging itself upon me, and I now have to be very careful with what I eat and drink unless I want a cornucopia of no good, very bad things to happen to me and my surroundings.

In fact, up until a month or so ago, I hadn’t eaten anything I hadn’t prepared myself for almost three years.

And see, as cumbersome as that could be (though, I liked to say I’m the best dinner date there is: cheap), I can now honestly say that my dietary restrictions have been a measure of God’s grace to me.

Seriously.

Because back in the day, I never gave much thought to what I ate.

If I was hungry/thirsty, I just grabbed whatever was in the vicinity, and nine times out of ten, whatever I grabbed was not particularly good for me.

No lie–if you opened my freshman year food drawer, you would’ve found a whole lot of lucky charms, instant mac ‘n cheese, and a ton of “healthy” Trader Joe’s candy.

Freshman Sarah was a sucker for marketing.

And here’s the thing.

If my stomach hadn’t started bringing the pain, my eating habits would not have changed.

I mean, I’d happily eaten the Standard American Diet (Yes, the actual acronym for it is SAD) my entire life.

Some of my most treasured memories include peppermint ice cream, German chocolate cake donuts, margarita pizza, and homemade pie.

All of which, and much more besides, I’d somehow managed to eat without any noticeable effects on my waistline.

I was “healthy.”

I was fine.

…

…

Friends, I like to consider myself reasonably intelligent, but no thinking person I’ve ever met would contend that routinely filling their body with ice cream, mac n’ cheese, donuts, etc. was good for them.

And yet…

That’s exactly what I did.

For why?

Well, having reflected some, I think there are two main reasons (leaving aside the option that I was just an idiot), and they are:

1. I really liked the Standard American Diet
2. I’d yet to experience any real consequences

That first one should be pretty obvious.

I, for one, don’t know anyone who doesn’t like the Standard American Diet.

What’s not to like?

Sugar. Sodium. Fried things. Fat.

It’s not as if any of that tastes bad.

In fact, the food that’s part of the SAD often brings happiness!

At least for the moment.

But here’s the thing.

Eat like that for long and you’re going to have problems.

Calcified arteries.

Type II Diabetes.

Fatty liver disease.

Etc. Etc.

All no good, very bad things.

And listen, you may think that because none of that has happened yet, there’s no need to reassess your eating habits, but it’s called “junk food” for a reason, friends, and eating garbage has consequences.

We all know this.

At least in theory, that is.

However, it has well been said that the longest journey in the human life is the 18 inches between the heart and the head, and I think something similar can be said of the stomach.

It’s one thing to know we shouldn’t be eating junk food and another thing to feel in our gut that SAD garbage is really, really not good for us.

And see, that’s honestly why my stomach problems have been a measure of God’s grace to me because when I eat something I shouldn’t, I feel it.

Almost immediately.

Truly, the rapidity of the consequences have effectively trained me so that now, when something I should not eat crosses my lips, it’s like my stomach sends a signal to my brain to my mouth that says,

“AH! NO NO NO NO NO NO! SPIT THAT OUT RIGHT NOW!”

And whatever’s in my mouth rocket propels to the ground because as Mr. Bennett says in Pride and Prejudice:

“I have at last learned to be cautious.”

And let me tell you, friends…

That has been an invaluable lesson.

And here’s the thing.

I think it applies to more than just what we eat.

Proverbs 14:12 says,

“There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end leads to death.“

Today, I think there are a lot of things that seem normal or right or good to us (like the Standard American Diet) that if we’re honest and look at their long-term trajectories, only cause heartburn, pain, and misery.

But we do them.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Dear friends.

I speak from personal experience when I say that following our appetites hurts us in the end.

And listen, I get it.

Dietary restrictions can be un-fun in the extreme, but I personally take great comfort in the fact that they really aren’t unique to me.

In fact, they go all the way back to the dawn of humanity.

If you recall, there was once a garden full of trees where Adam and Eve were told that there was one–just one–from which they should not eat.

But then, as now, a serpentine voice slithered in, saying,

“Go ahead… Do it… It’s fine… You will not surely die.”

Friends, if no one’s ever told you, here’s the truth:

Satan is a liar.

And he wants you to believe that the best thing you can do is feed all your desires.

But it’s not.

Not by a long shot.

And so often we can be deceived.

We think sin will make us happy.

That it will assuage our hunger or quench our thirst when, in reality, it makes everything a whole lot worse.

Maybe not right away.

But eventually, we start to decay from the inside out.

Lives crumble.

Relationships breakdown.

All because we bit into and swallowed something we should have spit out.

And here’s the thing.

It’s commonly believed that God just wants to spoil our fun by forbidding everything.

Like He’s up there in Heaven snatching all the fun and flavorful things away, looking down at humanity and snarling,

But that’s not God’s heart.

Not at all.

We’ve made Him into a monster, a bully, and a tyrant in our heads, but my man Charles Spurgeon described the reality of the situation like this:

“When I regarded God as a tyrant, I thought sin a trifle; but when I knew him to be my father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against him. When I thought that God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so, and sought my good.”

See, God doesn’t want junk for us.

He never has.

He gives us restrictions because He knows certain things lead to death.

And what He wants is to satisfy our appetites and desires with what is best.

In John 6:35, Jesus said,

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Friends, it has well been said that Jesus is the Master Physician, and while that’s completely true, it’s been my experience that He’s not only the Master Physician but the Master Dietician, too.

And what I know 100% is that He wants more than anything to feast eternally with you.

So friends!

If you don’t know Jesus, it would be my honor and privilege to introduce you to Him and tell you about the way He has not only changed my life but saved my life.

And listen–if He can do it for me, He can for sure do it for you.

That’s all for this week!

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Also, please enjoy this picture of little Sarah with strawberry yogurt in her hair.