Dr. B and Sin

I’m on the brink of full blown addiction.  Even chemical dependence.  After spending the last couple years telling myself that it’s no big deal or flat out ignoring it I have decided that it’s time to make a change.  I have got to cut back on the amount of Dr Pepper that I drink.  It is beginning to get out of hand.  It’s just that it is so good.  When I am in heaven I plan on having a perpetually full glass in my hand at all times but here on Earth where excessive sugar and calories are detrimental I suppose I’ll have to practice moderation – which is proving to be a challenge.

I have only had one in the past 10 days (normally that would have been a dozen or more).  I don’t have the willpower to go cold turkey so I’m weaning myself with drinks such as Coke Zero or some other calorie free drink.  I know, artificial sweeteners aren’t necessarily better but it’s a process.  It got me thinking of things I have partaken in to make up for the lack of Dr Pepper.  One of them was a drink known as Dr. B.  It is a horrid drink produced by Texas grocer HEB.  It did nothing to satiate my craving for the real thing.  Thinking about Dr. B got my mind wandering.  Why was I so offended by it?  HEB has other imitation drinks that are tolerable.  Why do I detest Dr. B so much? 

To me Dr Pepper is unequaled in the realm of refreshments.  Calling it “delicious” is insulting because the word fails miserably to describe how good it is.  Even more insulting, trying to imitate it.  When there is an imitation of Coke (which is good but not great) that turns out to be mediocre, it’s no big deal because the original was just average to begin with.  An imitation of the pinnacle of soft drinks is downright blasphemous.

As my mind continued to wander (it always does), this reminded me of other things in life.  I think that this is a lot like sin.  God offers us fullness of life.  He desires for us to continually walk with Him, the source of endless joy.  But we get distracted by shiny things around us.  We discard that which is the eternally fulfilling for something that we will be bored with in a couple of weeks. 

It’s not as if God is offering us something that is good but not great.  We’re not exchanging run-of-the-mill for mediocre.  When we chase after or devote our lives to or make sacrifices for things that are not God, we are exchanging infinite joy for a cheap imitation that leaves us just as empty as when we started.  The cheap imitation never quenches our thirst.  We sometimes try to throw more and more poor imitations of joy into a void in our hearts that is infinite, hoping that if we just put enough in there it will eventually fill up.  It can’t.  We need infinite to fill the infinite.

The good news is that there is someone that can fill the infinite void.  And He is eager to do so.