“Greed, envy, sloth, pride, and gluttony: these are not vices anymore. No, these are marketing tools. Lust is our way of life. Envy is just a nudge towards another sale. Even in our relationships, we consume each other, each looking for what we can get out of the other. Our appetites are often satisfied at the expense of those around us. In a dog-eat-dog world, we lose part of our humanity.” ~ Jon Foreman
Has anyone ever suggested that you are a glutton for punishment? Gluttony refers to an overindulgence of food but can take on many forms. In the West, we don’t comprehend the depths of our gluttonous compared to the rest of the world. We are gluttons because of our culture and because we’re born in a failed state. We live in a culture that screams MORE. Unfortunately, our identity and self-worth are often dependent on MORE, and MORE is hard to detect because MORE wears many disguises.
Some folks often say, “I have a body made for sin..; too bad that sin is gluttony.
What is the difference between gluttony and lust? The definitions sound very similar; they are both excessive and overindulgence in our lives, the unhealthy obsession with food, power, prestige, glory, things, and people.
The difference is simple; lust is an intense craving after something God has chosen not to give you at this time; lust is wanting something that you can’t have.
On the other hand, gluttony is an intense craving or overconsumption of something God has chosen to give you; gluttony is taking more than you what you need.
What is your favorite comfort food, e.g., ice cream, popcorn, nuts, chocolate, etc.? Comfort food is another form of gluttony. If you take a personal inventory of your eating patterns, you will quickly discover that you are an emotional eater. Emotion eating influences our gluttony, and once gluttony becomes chronic, it’s hard to overcome, but the good news is that it’s not impossible, especially with God’s help.
Let me share with you a verse from the Eagle’s song, “Hotel California.”
“Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said ‘We are all just prisoners here, of our own device’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast”
We see in this song the trap of gluttony. The lure of the exotic and the extravagant – mirrors on the ceiling – pink champagne in our glasses – feasts of excess – the desire for more and more.
In this song, we see the prophetic cry against the excesses of the American dream, with the songwriter seeing no way out, no way to break free from the bondage of gluttony in their life.
How do we overcome our gluttony? There are two spiritual principles we can practice that will make a BIG difference in how our lives turn out:
- Temperance: Commit to eating the right amount of food for your build. Adopt the discipline to burn more calories than you take in. Eat a balanced diet, and seek the aid of a dietician or nutritionist to help create a plan that is not extreme, a crash diet, or simply the latest fad.
- Gratitude: Learning to be grateful and express gratitude for the gifts of water, food, shelter, and protection that God provides to satisfy your basic human needs. Your spiritual growth is dependent on subtraction of dependence on people, place, and thing, and on acquiring or accomplishing MORE. MORE will only make you MORE of what you ready are. Learning to be content and grateful for the essential things goes a long way in helping overcome the sin of gluttony.
God of abundance, You have provided as a gift food, water, shelter, and protection to satisfy my basic needs. Please forgive me for taking Your gifts for granted. I have become obsessed with my wants vs. being content and grateful that my essential requirements for life are satisfied. Would you please remove the gluttony from character and help me live into the spiritual principles of love and service and stop living for myself. In Your Spirit and Name, I pray these things. May Your will not mine always materialize, now and forever. Amen.
Leave a Reply