Too much of a good thing?

I was reading the back of my shampoo bottle in the shower and it mentioned the age-old saying that "you can't have too much of a good thing". I thought about that as I was scrunching my hair ... I think that it totally depends of our view of our own hearts: if by nature we are selfish/sinful or if we are good-natured victims and only corrupted by the things outside us.

My pastor preached an awesome sermon on Sunday. In fact it was Chase's baptism so I was excited in general for the whole experience- placing the sign and seal of the covenant on our son, becoming members of our church, hearing God's Word preached, enjoying the presence of family and friends, and being able to show them hospitality.

The sermon hit on the nature of our hearts: "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") 20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " (Mark 7: 19-23 NIV) So this passage shows how envy and slander, etc are not things that enter into us but are products of our hearts. I'm sure that there are temptations that the world offers, but in all reality, it is our hearts that take things (many of which are good things and not innately evil) and make them into idols before the Lord. Even good things! Think about it! There's a fine line between wanting to own "nice" things and greed. Even as a mom, I'm totally guilty of chalking up my kid's behavior to my dilligent schedule but in all seriousness, there's a fine line between that and arrogance. And when does not telling someone the complete truth because you want to protect them fully turn into deceit?

Some of our desires (NO MATTER HOW GOOD)-when blown out of proportion, put before the Lord, and allowed to reign over our desire to please God- will produce evil in our hearts. It's one thing to have an innately evil desire (like cheating on your spouse); but I think most people struggle in the grey areas where they tell themselves "how could too much of this be bad for me?"

Can too much ice cream be bad? Can too many friends be a bad thing? Can loving mankind too much be bad?

I think an overabundance of anything can be bad when it outweighs our love for the Lord. Too much time leads to boredom. Too much power can lead to pride. Too much money can lead to love of money. Too much emphasis on education can lead to trusting in one's own knowledge. Too much success can lead to insatiable hunger for achievement. Too much busyness can lead to restlessness. Too much reliance upon feelings can lead to faulty thinking. Too much ice cream (admittedly) leads to love handles...If only too much exercise was my struggle.... hehe