Know When to Stop

Each year on the fourth of July the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Company sponsors a hot dog eating contest. In 2013 Joey Chestnut won the competition for the seventh year in a row, setting a new record by eating 69 hot dogs and buns in just ten minutes. The second runner up “only” managed to eat 51. According to news reports, Chestnut received a prize of $10,000 for his eating performance, and consumed over 20,000 calories during his eating spree.

Few of us are in danger of eating seventy hot dogs in one day, let alone nearly seven a minute for ten minutes straight. And yet we live in a world where “enough” is never enough. Many people devote their lives to acquiring wealth and possessions, living with a focus only on the temporal. As a result, rather than living in contentment, they live in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction. They struggle to get the latest and biggest and newest toys and never enjoy a moment of peace.

“Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.”—Proverbs 25:16-17