Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

Rufus Wainwright’s song, “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk,” contains the following lyrics:

“Cigarettes and chocolate milk
these are just a couple of my cravings
everything it seems I like's a little bit stronger
a little bit thicker
a little bit harmful for me

if I should buy jellybeans
have to eat them all in just one sitting
everything it seems I like's a little bit sweeter
a little bit fatter
a little bit harmful for me

and then there's those other things
which for several reasons we won't mention
everything about them is a little bit stranger
a little bit harder
a little bit deadly

it isn't very smart
tends to make one part so broken-hearted”

Hedonism seems to be the world’s motto. Most of the time we’re told that true freedom is found in hedonism. If you’re not familiar with the definition of hedonism it goes something like this, “pleasure is the greatest pursuit.” (Hedonism could also be called the devil’s playground.) Rufus Wainwright’s song, “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” is a pretty interesting revelation of the progression and temptation of the pleasures this world has to offer. (1 John 2:15-16)

In yesterday’s devotional we talked about our affections, our cravings. In Romans 6 Paul calls us to put away the cravings of the flesh and present our bodies to be instruments of righteousness. Simply put, we’re to take our cravings and submit them to God’s authority. Where my cravings are in conflict with God’s Word, I’m to put those cravings to death. (This isn’t easy.)

So, what’s so the big deal with our little cravings? According to Wainwright’s song these small cravings turn into bigger cravings…harder to put to death, cravings. Consider the following line in Wainwright’s song, “everything it seems I like's a little bit stronger.” Wainwright also writes, “tends to make one part so broken-hearted.” Even he knows that there is always a progression. Eventually, we need more. We need it more frequently. Eventually we’re in the fight of our life, for our life. Sometimes it’s the silliest things that turn into the most deadly things…to our body and our spiritual life. Sin always cost us something. Consider these words from Matthew 16:26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Where in your life have you already experienced the progression of sin? Where in your life are you letting the silliest things get by? Sometimes, it’s just a little bite from an apple that takes your life.