Don't Be So Generous
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Ps. 112:5, NIV.
Believe it or not, there is a time when we are better off not being so generous. It all has to do with calories, sugar, salt, alcohol, and other things that destroy health. More is not necessarily better!
Some estimates suggest that in India the daily caloric intake is in the range of 1,400 calories per person, and in Africa, 1,200-1,900 calories. By comparison, Americans recommend approximately 2,400 calories per day per capita, and many eat far more. Is it any wonder that obesity has reached epidemic proportions?
Many Americans eat their body weight in sugar annually. The average sugar consumption per person each year is 125 to 130 pounds. Many of today's youth eat sugar as though they had a sugar deficiency. Yet we know that sugar clogs the system, causes tooth decay, and depresses the immune system.
The body requires as little as a half teaspoonful of salt per day. Yet we tend to consume 10 or more times that amount.
America has 18 million adults with alcohol-related illnesses. And among youth, some estimate that three out of every 10 have problems with alcohol. It's frightening to learn from the 1989 FBI reports that alcohol was involved in 70 percent of murders, 66 percent of fatal accidents, 60 percent of crimes against children, 60 percent of child abuse, 56 percent of fights and assaults in the home, 55 percent of all arrests, 53 percent of fire deaths, 50 percent of rapes, 41 percent of assaults, and 37 percent of suicides.
We are a generous people, eating too much, especially too much sugar and fat. We drink too much. And we salt too much. It's a part of our self-indulgent "generous" nature!
It's about time we quit partaking so generously of things that aren't good for us and exercised a little more generosity in wholesome practices, such as drinking water, exercising, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and in sharing our blessings with others. Generosity is a wonderful trait when exercised in behalf of others instead of self!
Lord, help me to have the willpower to say no to things that aren't good for me, and yes to generously sharing the good things I have with others.
Believe it or not, there is a time when we are better off not being so generous. It all has to do with calories, sugar, salt, alcohol, and other things that destroy health. More is not necessarily better!
Some estimates suggest that in India the daily caloric intake is in the range of 1,400 calories per person, and in Africa, 1,200-1,900 calories. By comparison, Americans recommend approximately 2,400 calories per day per capita, and many eat far more. Is it any wonder that obesity has reached epidemic proportions?
Many Americans eat their body weight in sugar annually. The average sugar consumption per person each year is 125 to 130 pounds. Many of today's youth eat sugar as though they had a sugar deficiency. Yet we know that sugar clogs the system, causes tooth decay, and depresses the immune system.
The body requires as little as a half teaspoonful of salt per day. Yet we tend to consume 10 or more times that amount.
America has 18 million adults with alcohol-related illnesses. And among youth, some estimate that three out of every 10 have problems with alcohol. It's frightening to learn from the 1989 FBI reports that alcohol was involved in 70 percent of murders, 66 percent of fatal accidents, 60 percent of crimes against children, 60 percent of child abuse, 56 percent of fights and assaults in the home, 55 percent of all arrests, 53 percent of fire deaths, 50 percent of rapes, 41 percent of assaults, and 37 percent of suicides.
We are a generous people, eating too much, especially too much sugar and fat. We drink too much. And we salt too much. It's a part of our self-indulgent "generous" nature!
It's about time we quit partaking so generously of things that aren't good for us and exercised a little more generosity in wholesome practices, such as drinking water, exercising, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and in sharing our blessings with others. Generosity is a wonderful trait when exercised in behalf of others instead of self!
Lord, help me to have the willpower to say no to things that aren't good for me, and yes to generously sharing the good things I have with others.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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