I love sugar, especially candy. Cake and cookies are right behind it. I call them my “Three C’s,” and if I could remain healthy doing it, I’d eat nothing but.

The sad truth is that none of these are good bodily fuel. None provide energy, strength or nutrition, and I know this from trying it. As a 22-year-old teacher in the Chicago public Schools, I packed my lunch every day: a bag of Chips Ahoy, Oreos or Pecan Sandies, followed by a Snickers bar or a Baby Ruth. Although everything tasted good going down, afterwards I didn’t feel very well.

But, I reasoned, God made sugar. He knew my mouth would love it more than anything else so must have meant for me to enjoy it. I was willing to leave the gravy and butter to someone else, along with the chips and dips. My love affair was with sweets. Although I’d try to eat right again and again, eventually I’d end up back with the Three C’s.

Frustrated with this on-again, off-again eating pattern, I finally approached God, seeking a solution. His instruction didn’t beat around the bush: “It’s not good to eat much honey.” (Proverbs 25:27a) Although he made sugar to enjoy, he never meant me to go whole hog.

All of us have our weaknesses. I believe God deliberately designed us this way so we’d have areas in which to practice control. If life was about self-indulgence, how could we ever develop self-discipline?

Food control is an issue for many of us. Reality tells us, “Eat some, but not too much. But definitely eat.” It’s like telling Jack, “Chase that squirrel to the tree, but stop when you’re half way there. But definitely chase him.”

Once we define the areas of our lives that lean into exorbitance, it’s probable we’ll be skirmishing there for the rest of our lives. That reality makes me groan with discouragement. When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden, they didn’t have this problem. But how long did that last? Maybe a couple of weeks?

They had to square off with self-control immediately after God kicked them out of Eden. The harsh reality for all of us is that lack of moderation is the result of jet-black sin. That’s why giving in never satisfies. After one sleeve of Chips Ahoy, a second will always be needed. Whenever I melt into temptation with the Three C’s, its sin that needs removal just as tumors need removing with surgery. The only real satisfaction comes through denial.

Did Jesus crave sweets? Or gravy? Or anything? Our impression from Scripture is that he didn’t eat regularly or much. We also know he fasted, one time for over a month! He was probably skinny, and food was most likely a low priority. But was this easy for him? Probably not. No one likes to feel their stomach growl.

When I think of my love for the Three C’s and my love for Jesus, sugar quickly falls into its proper place at the bottom of my list. Although my mouth will continue to demand it until the day I die, denying it is a chance to become more like Christ. His desire was not to satisfy his earthly appetite but rather to please his Father, God. And mine ought to be the same.

” ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’ “ (John 4:34)