10/01/2013 11:22:00 PM
Lindy
This post is part of a series. After reading this post, you can read Gluttony (Part 2).
I know, right? Dare I make my first official post about such a strong topic?! I mean, preachers only talk about gluttony when they're talking about the coconut pie they're going to eat after services. Yet, this topic has really been pressing upon my heart lately. I can really feel the Spirit convicting me of my own sin in this area. So, I couldn't help but to wonder, how many other moms out there are in the same boat as me? So, I hope that this post will be encouraging to you and will remind you that you have another Sister-in-Christ walking alongside you in this struggle.
When I'm talking about gluttony, I am not asking for your waist size. I don't care if you're a size 2 or 22, chances are, if you're human, you've committed this common sin. So what exactly IS gluttony? Well, according to Merriam Webster, gluttony is:
: the act or habit of eating or drinking too much
1
: excess in eating or drinking
2
: greedy or excessive indulgence
So, as you can see, gluttony does not have to simply be eating. However, let's focus on eating for this topic.
As moms, we are busy. Many of you can probably relate to late-night outings to the McDonald's Drive-Thru (though I recommend Chick-fil-A...if only there were one where I live)! I can remember as a first time mom eating when I got a chance because I didn't know when I would get a chance to eat again. Oftentimes, I would end up eating more than normal, though, with this mindset. I was not disciplined in the area of eating.
Growing up, I grew up on Hot Pockets and sodas for the most part! So now, not surprisingly, I am not a great cook who knows how to cook filling and healthy meals. We never had a certain time to eat our meals, so therefore, I eat when I "feel" like it, as opposed to when I am hungry. I just like food. The more fattening, the better! Writing about this is even making me hungry, despite just eating!
I had went on a diet once before with a friend. We were about the same size, and we went on Weight Watchers together. I lost a lot of weight! Why? Well, it is a good program, but I had accountability. And not just that, we had about the same amount of points, so we could eat the same things. We lived a mile apart, and neither one of us had kids. We could just eat together! It was great! But when I moved back home and got a desk job, I gained 40 lbs in a year. In fact, I have NEVER had anyone ask me if I were pregnant (that I can recall) when I have actually BEEN pregnant. But right before I was pregnant with my first child, working that desk job, I had been asked twice!!!
Did that change my heart with gluttony? Nope! Actually, I'm an emotional eater so it just makes it worse! But recently, God has been getting ahold of my heart through His Word. It's not about dieting, looking good, or even as much as about being healthy (although that is a good benefit). It's about following God's Word and being a good steward of my temple that He has given me. I need to learn to be self-disciplined! If I can be self-disciplined in food, can you imagine what sort of benefit that would be for the rest of my life?! What a wonderful character trait to have! But I lack this quality greatly. Do you ever feel this way with food? Or even anything else for that matter? When we are not self-disciplined, it's sin. PERIOD! Let's not sugar-coat it. In fact, let's not laugh about our sin. God certainly isn't. He is sooooooooo Holy that sin is sin to Him. It is NOT a laughing matter!
In fact, when I read Scripture, gluttony is always associated with drinking in excess:
As moms, we are busy. Many of you can probably relate to late-night outings to the McDonald's Drive-Thru (though I recommend Chick-fil-A...if only there were one where I live)! I can remember as a first time mom eating when I got a chance because I didn't know when I would get a chance to eat again. Oftentimes, I would end up eating more than normal, though, with this mindset. I was not disciplined in the area of eating.
Growing up, I grew up on Hot Pockets and sodas for the most part! So now, not surprisingly, I am not a great cook who knows how to cook filling and healthy meals. We never had a certain time to eat our meals, so therefore, I eat when I "feel" like it, as opposed to when I am hungry. I just like food. The more fattening, the better! Writing about this is even making me hungry, despite just eating!
I had went on a diet once before with a friend. We were about the same size, and we went on Weight Watchers together. I lost a lot of weight! Why? Well, it is a good program, but I had accountability. And not just that, we had about the same amount of points, so we could eat the same things. We lived a mile apart, and neither one of us had kids. We could just eat together! It was great! But when I moved back home and got a desk job, I gained 40 lbs in a year. In fact, I have NEVER had anyone ask me if I were pregnant (that I can recall) when I have actually BEEN pregnant. But right before I was pregnant with my first child, working that desk job, I had been asked twice!!!
Did that change my heart with gluttony? Nope! Actually, I'm an emotional eater so it just makes it worse! But recently, God has been getting ahold of my heart through His Word. It's not about dieting, looking good, or even as much as about being healthy (although that is a good benefit). It's about following God's Word and being a good steward of my temple that He has given me. I need to learn to be self-disciplined! If I can be self-disciplined in food, can you imagine what sort of benefit that would be for the rest of my life?! What a wonderful character trait to have! But I lack this quality greatly. Do you ever feel this way with food? Or even anything else for that matter? When we are not self-disciplined, it's sin. PERIOD! Let's not sugar-coat it. In fact, let's not laugh about our sin. God certainly isn't. He is sooooooooo Holy that sin is sin to Him. It is NOT a laughing matter!
In fact, when I read Scripture, gluttony is always associated with drinking in excess:
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Matthew 11:19
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Luke 7:34
I'll ask it again. Do you love pleasures more than you love God? I'm sure most of us would shout "No!" But let's take a closer look at our own lives. When I look at my day, how much of it revolves around me and how much of it revolves around God? Even when we do ministry, oftentimes we are doing the ministry WE want to do, and not what God would have us do. Oh how I can preach it from experience!
You will never have control or spiritual discipline in your life if you do not want to please God more than yourself. So as shameful as I am to admit it, my gluttony stems from selfishness. Honestly, a part of me doesn't want to be disciplined. It's work. It's hard work. It's much easier to eat what I want, when I want it. It's much easier to blame others for my gluttony: I was always taught to clean my plate, or I didn't want to offend the cook. We can come up with some "great" justifications for our sin, but the fact is, sin is sin. And not only is it wrong, not only is it consequential, it's HURTFUL to God. Think about it. When we commit gluttony, or any other sin, we are self-willing hurting God. That might not be our intent, but that is fact.
Somehow, we think that gluttony isn't that bad. I mean, EVERYONE is overweight it seems like. If I'm sinning for this, so is Sister so and so. I've been guilty of this mentality. You know what this is? This is pride mixed in with trying to please man. You see, if I were concerned about God, I would cry out to Him to help me to overcome this area of my life. But instead, we often think that as long as the preacher's wife and such are doing it, we are okay. We'll let gluttons run our church, but not drunkards! Let me tell you my friend, God doesn't separate the two in Scripture. Oh sure, drinking can change your mental state and can be much more consequential for the person and for others...no one is arguing that. But to God, even what we view as the smallest sin is a big deal to Him!
So, I think, if you're like me, and we struggle with gluttony, most likely, we struggle with selfishness. We need to be crying out to God. I encourage you to make a prayer journal if you don't already use one with your DAILY time with the Lord (if you are not having daily time with Him, this is a MUST! I encourage at LEAST 30 minutes of prayer and Bible time with Him daily...make it into your schedule and make it your PRIORITY for the day, even over eating). In your journal, write down your struggle of gluttony. Write down why it's a struggle. Then write down WHY it is so important for you to become disciplined in this area. It doesn't mean you can't eat ice-cream. But it does mean you can't eat 4 ice-creams! Search Scripture that will encourage you to be disciplined in this area. Then PRAY PRAY PRAY! Get down on your hands and knees and cry out to God for forgiveness and His mercy! God wants you to overcome this area of your life! It's really up to us.
So, my friend, I am going to take this journey with you beginning today. It's not about the scale. Sure, I will lose pounds if I begin to stop overeating. But that is not my primary purpose. My goal is to show God my thankfulness for this vessel He has given me to use here on this earth. I want to be a good steward of my temple. I want to honor God. I want to have discipline in this area so it will help me in other areas that I am struggling in. But most of all, I don't want to sin. I want to be a lover of God and not a lover of pleasures!
I am going to struggle in this walk. I am so far from perfect, and you will see that. I won't be some skinny girl in a few months. It will take me time, but I commit to make it apart of my daily prayer with Him. I commit to taking steps to help keep me from temptation in this area. I commit to thinking about how much I'm eating. I want to memorize Scripture in this area of my life so that when I'm about to eat something that I shouldn't, I can quote God's word to fight the temptation for me. His Word is so much more powerful than I could ever be.
I hope that this post encourages you to do the same. It is my desire to learn to be open with my life so that it might encourage others. It's a hard thing to do when you're as prideful as I am. But really, I think everyone can see I'm a gluttonist just by looking at me. I'm in denial. God certainly sees it. I need to stop justifying my sins and start getting serious about pleasing the one I say I serve. Who will take this journey with me?!
The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
These are some powerful verses, and I encourage you to read them in their full context! Go back and read each of these chapters. I think they'll bring much conviction upon your heart as they have mine!
So that's it! That is what has gotten my heart convicted about gluttony. I'm a sinner...a big one. I struggle with this sin every single day. But how can I have such a love for food when I have brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world starving?! I mean really. I know we don't like to think about it, but let's dwell on it for a minute. God has blessed us so greatly, why are we not serving those in need? Isn't that what Jesus did? Surely I could afford to go without excess so that someone would have necessity.
I was complaining to my husband just today about our grocery bill. We have budgeted $115 a week for going to Wal-mart. This must cover baby formula (about $50 every 3 weeks), diapers (for two little ones), wipes, baby food, laundry detergent, deodorant, printer ink, groceries, anything we could possibly need has to come out of this budget. It's hard making it work. I complained all day to my husband, and even cried. I didn't know how I was going to make meals out of what I had. All of my money went to other necessities that I didn't have much left over for food.
But really? So what? I might have to eat two different kinds of beans at my meal one night or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every night this week, but is that so bad? Do I really have to eat as much as I think?! I don't want sin to have ANY part of my life, but especially to CONTROL part of my life. And think about how important eating is! We do it everyday, multiple times! So if I give that over to the devil, I've given him a large part of my life! I want God to have that part of my life, not my flesh.
So, how do we, as busy moms, take control of how much food we consume? We get serious about pleasing God! Think about it. If I want anything bad enough, I will sacrifice other things in order to get it. If I want to purchase that new homeschool curriculum bad enough, I will save and scrape until I can buy it! So if I really want to please God bad enough, I will take steps to take control of my sins! I know that's a bold statement, but I challenge you right now to search your heart. Do you want to please God more than men? Do you love God more than you love pleasures?
So that's it! That is what has gotten my heart convicted about gluttony. I'm a sinner...a big one. I struggle with this sin every single day. But how can I have such a love for food when I have brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world starving?! I mean really. I know we don't like to think about it, but let's dwell on it for a minute. God has blessed us so greatly, why are we not serving those in need? Isn't that what Jesus did? Surely I could afford to go without excess so that someone would have necessity.
I was complaining to my husband just today about our grocery bill. We have budgeted $115 a week for going to Wal-mart. This must cover baby formula (about $50 every 3 weeks), diapers (for two little ones), wipes, baby food, laundry detergent, deodorant, printer ink, groceries, anything we could possibly need has to come out of this budget. It's hard making it work. I complained all day to my husband, and even cried. I didn't know how I was going to make meals out of what I had. All of my money went to other necessities that I didn't have much left over for food.
But really? So what? I might have to eat two different kinds of beans at my meal one night or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every night this week, but is that so bad? Do I really have to eat as much as I think?! I don't want sin to have ANY part of my life, but especially to CONTROL part of my life. And think about how important eating is! We do it everyday, multiple times! So if I give that over to the devil, I've given him a large part of my life! I want God to have that part of my life, not my flesh.
So, how do we, as busy moms, take control of how much food we consume? We get serious about pleasing God! Think about it. If I want anything bad enough, I will sacrifice other things in order to get it. If I want to purchase that new homeschool curriculum bad enough, I will save and scrape until I can buy it! So if I really want to please God bad enough, I will take steps to take control of my sins! I know that's a bold statement, but I challenge you right now to search your heart. Do you want to please God more than men? Do you love God more than you love pleasures?
2 Timothy 3:2-5
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
I'll ask it again. Do you love pleasures more than you love God? I'm sure most of us would shout "No!" But let's take a closer look at our own lives. When I look at my day, how much of it revolves around me and how much of it revolves around God? Even when we do ministry, oftentimes we are doing the ministry WE want to do, and not what God would have us do. Oh how I can preach it from experience!
You will never have control or spiritual discipline in your life if you do not want to please God more than yourself. So as shameful as I am to admit it, my gluttony stems from selfishness. Honestly, a part of me doesn't want to be disciplined. It's work. It's hard work. It's much easier to eat what I want, when I want it. It's much easier to blame others for my gluttony: I was always taught to clean my plate, or I didn't want to offend the cook. We can come up with some "great" justifications for our sin, but the fact is, sin is sin. And not only is it wrong, not only is it consequential, it's HURTFUL to God. Think about it. When we commit gluttony, or any other sin, we are self-willing hurting God. That might not be our intent, but that is fact.
Somehow, we think that gluttony isn't that bad. I mean, EVERYONE is overweight it seems like. If I'm sinning for this, so is Sister so and so. I've been guilty of this mentality. You know what this is? This is pride mixed in with trying to please man. You see, if I were concerned about God, I would cry out to Him to help me to overcome this area of my life. But instead, we often think that as long as the preacher's wife and such are doing it, we are okay. We'll let gluttons run our church, but not drunkards! Let me tell you my friend, God doesn't separate the two in Scripture. Oh sure, drinking can change your mental state and can be much more consequential for the person and for others...no one is arguing that. But to God, even what we view as the smallest sin is a big deal to Him!
So, I think, if you're like me, and we struggle with gluttony, most likely, we struggle with selfishness. We need to be crying out to God. I encourage you to make a prayer journal if you don't already use one with your DAILY time with the Lord (if you are not having daily time with Him, this is a MUST! I encourage at LEAST 30 minutes of prayer and Bible time with Him daily...make it into your schedule and make it your PRIORITY for the day, even over eating). In your journal, write down your struggle of gluttony. Write down why it's a struggle. Then write down WHY it is so important for you to become disciplined in this area. It doesn't mean you can't eat ice-cream. But it does mean you can't eat 4 ice-creams! Search Scripture that will encourage you to be disciplined in this area. Then PRAY PRAY PRAY! Get down on your hands and knees and cry out to God for forgiveness and His mercy! God wants you to overcome this area of your life! It's really up to us.
So, my friend, I am going to take this journey with you beginning today. It's not about the scale. Sure, I will lose pounds if I begin to stop overeating. But that is not my primary purpose. My goal is to show God my thankfulness for this vessel He has given me to use here on this earth. I want to be a good steward of my temple. I want to honor God. I want to have discipline in this area so it will help me in other areas that I am struggling in. But most of all, I don't want to sin. I want to be a lover of God and not a lover of pleasures!
I am going to struggle in this walk. I am so far from perfect, and you will see that. I won't be some skinny girl in a few months. It will take me time, but I commit to make it apart of my daily prayer with Him. I commit to taking steps to help keep me from temptation in this area. I commit to thinking about how much I'm eating. I want to memorize Scripture in this area of my life so that when I'm about to eat something that I shouldn't, I can quote God's word to fight the temptation for me. His Word is so much more powerful than I could ever be.
I hope that this post encourages you to do the same. It is my desire to learn to be open with my life so that it might encourage others. It's a hard thing to do when you're as prideful as I am. But really, I think everyone can see I'm a gluttonist just by looking at me. I'm in denial. God certainly sees it. I need to stop justifying my sins and start getting serious about pleasing the one I say I serve. Who will take this journey with me?!
UPDATE! I now have a Part 2 post on gluttony. You can read it here.
Posted in 
I have to disagree on one point...food effects the way we think, our emotions, and how we feel physically. Sugar lights up the same area of the brain as heroin. All foods are broken down into basic chemicals. Those chemicals react to every part of your body.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree with you on that...I'm sorry if there was a part that made it seem different.
ReplyDeleteMy point was that I view gluttony as bad as any other addiction. Drugs and such may typically have more visible side effects...obviously if you drink and drive, that will likely effect you more than even high sugar-intake and driving (although this certainly will affect you as well).
I'm getting ready to write a third post on this topic (hopefully fairly soon). We have implemented a lot of changes and are taking it one step at a time. It is very slow, but we are moving forward, and that's certainly a better position than where I was!