Gluttony–Is it a Deadly Sin? Part 2

A Pastor visits an old woman…

He’s hungry, and there’s a bowl of peanuts on the coffee table. After chatting with the woman for a while he realizes that he’s eaten almost the entire thing. He apologizes for his gluttony.
The old woman replies, “Don’t worry about it. I just like to suck the chocolate off them.”

While we may laugh at this pastor eating someone else’s predigested food, gluttony is no laughing matter.

Gluttony wears different masks

Remember that kid with a UFO sized lollipop, who would lick it all over before offering you a bite? Well, that wasn’t me.

But, I was that kid that could polish off an entire block of Cadbury Chocolate (with its glass and a half of full cream dairy milk in every 250g block) in one sitting—and lose weight in the process. Oh yes, my metabolic rate burned ever so brightly back in the day.

Now, all I have to do is give a tiny square of chocolate a sideways glance and boom, I gain a kilo.

I was never one to stay up past midnight binge watching movies or a mini-series.

However, I was that girl with a novel in hand promising only one more chapter before lights out, only to stay up until 3am to finish the book. I’d rock on up to school the next day, bleary eyed, woolly brained, and delightfully cranky.

I was never the type to spend every weekend at the mall shopping for the latest outfits, handbags and shoes.

But, I’m a woman that has spent needless hours trawling the internet, salivating while scrolling through eBay, Amazon or Gumtree for ukuleles to add to my collection.

I recognised I had a problem when I thought about where I might hang my latest ukulele acquisition. Was there space in the bathroom? Would the humidity warp the timber?

I own six of them. I know, I know, it’s foolish and I can’t even play them all at once, but they’re just so much fun to collect. Oddly enough, the obsession for ukuleles has passed, replaced by a desire to find the perfect leather handbag online.

Too much of a good thing

I’m reminded of an episode on Seinfeld where Jerry tells his neighbor, Kramer, that his hour-long showers aren’t normal. You could say that Kramer is a glutton for hot showers.

Taking a shower every day is good hygiene practice. And who hasn’t indulged in a hot shower after a workout or a long day?

But, Kramer goes one step too far when he spends every minute of his time showering. He buys a waterproof phone and installs a garbage disposal in the shower. We find him chopping veggies for a salad while he’s standing under the blast of the showerhead.

A glutton is a person who has an excessive appetite for anything, not just food.

Gluttony is a sin. It is unhealthy indulgence in physical pleasure; the obsessive love of material delights.

The danger lies in the thing that we consume, becoming the very thing that consumes us. It becomes an idol in our hearts.

“The Spirit seeks to teach us self-control. We are called by God to harness our physical desires, to keep them in check. The desire to eat is, in itself, no sin. It is a normal physical function of our bodies.

Yet when that desire runs out of control, we allow gluttony to enter our lives.”  R.C. Sproul

Do I still struggle with gluttony?

Yes and no. Those dearest to me say that when I die, they’ll put a life-sized cardboard cutout of me (an image taken from behind) and prop it in front of the pantry—doors open, so it looks like I’m scoping out what to snack on next.

Apparently, it’s where I like to spend a fair bit of my time.

Recently, I celebrated a birthday at the start of our current Covid lockdown. I enjoyed having a quiet day indoors with my family. Though I couldn’t physically celebrate with my friends, one sent me a box of birthday cookies and another sent me a box of savoury treats including the best meat pies ever!

It certainly got me thinking about whether my friends perceive me as a glutton too. Yeah, let’s sent Shirley food presents because she looooooves food.

Even my husband brings home random pastries for me. On one occasion, he was by himself wandering through market stalls in Sydney and he picked up a lovely bottle of truffle oil as a gift for yours truly.

Am I a glutton or a gourmand?

But, you know what? I shared everything. I didn’t hide the cookies in an airtight container, behind the cans of mixed beans in the pantry, which I would’ve done in times past.

(Though, my inner cookie monster would’ve liked to devour all the cookies in one hit.)

Nor did I fake sneeze all over the savoury quiches, pies and sausage rolls, so that only I could eat them. It did cross my mind, though.

O wretched woman that I am

So, if you are a glutton for food what can you do about it? Duct tape your mouth? Force yourself to watch endless hours of liposuction surgeries?—There’s nothing so off putting as watching stomach fat being vacuumed up through a clear plastic tube.

Thank God, for God

If you walked for any length of time as His child, the Holy Spirit will speak to you about your sin.

It takes spiritual maturity to own up and turn away from things that we know displease our loving Heavenly Father. We need to confess and repent.

Then get back in step with God by walking in the Spirit and praying for his guidance and strength to combat gluttony.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  Galatians 5:16

So, as we surrender to the Spirit’s control, and deepen our love for Christ, we’ll have victory over the strong desires of our sinful nature. If the Lord becomes everything to us, then glutting ourselves on food, books, TV shows, and social media will pale in comparison.

We’ll no longer be out of control, but self-controlled and God controlled.

Remember that temperance (self-control) is a characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:23

He’ll even remind you to make no provision for the flesh. Don’t feed your sinful nature.

I have over two dozen books on my To Be Read shelf, and I still want more to read. If I’m in a shopping centre I must run in the opposite direction of the bookstore.

Otherwise, I’m as stupid as a recovering alcoholic walking into a pub.

Sometimes it means just getting rid of the thing that controls you altogether. During the first Covid lockdown in 2020, I spent hours on my phone playing on a Scrabble app. For every spare, moment I would check to see if I’d gotten one over my opponents.

Winning became an obsession. In the end, I went cold turkey and removed the app. It was liberating to be freed from this ‘harmless’ game.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.   Romans 13:14

Have I gained complete control over gluttony? Not yet, but the Lord continues to work with me in this. I trust that He is working in your lives too.

Bibliography

Author unspecified. 2012. ‘What is the Sin of Gluttony? Its Definition and Consequences’, Christianity.com. Retrieved 12 July 2021 from

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/what-is-the-sin-of-gluttony-its-definition-and-consequences.html

Author unspecified, ‘The best 4 Gluttony Jokes’, Jokojokes. Retrieved 12 July 2021 from

https://jokojokes.com/gluttony-jokes.html

Sproul, R.C. 2012. Pleasing God—Discovering the meaning and importance of Sanctification, David C Cook, Colorado Springs, USA.

Verrett, B. 2020. ‘What Is Gluttony, and Is it a Sin?’, Bible Study Tools. Retrieved 12 July 2021 from

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-is-gluttony-and-is-it-a-sin.html