Sugar Coated Sin

I eat too much..... I don't take care of myself the way I should..... I lack will power to stop myself.... I like to eat, what’s wrong with that? Leave me alone, it’s the last vice I have. At least I don't ______. (You fill in the blank) Do you say these things to yourself and others? I have and they were all true.

You could roll it up in a ball, sugar coat it to make is look good but that didn't change the truth, it was sin. It was the sin of gluttony.

The definition of a glutton according to Webster’s is this:

Glutton - a person who greedily eats too much, great devourer (wolverine).

Greedily is defined as this - desiring more than one needs or deserves, wanting or taking all that one can get, with no thought of others, having to strong a desire for food and drink.

This is not the same as an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious and need a doctor’s attention. Neither is this about a medical imbalance of some kind. There are some people that have issues with eating that are due to medical problems. These types of problems should be taken to a doctor and are not what I am talking about here.

What I am talking about is over eating due to over indulgence. Eating more than you should because you have no self restraint or self control. I am talking about not taking care of your body, the temple that houses the living God inside you.

God calls us to feed and care for our soul, but He also calls us to feed and care for our body the same way.

From the beginning of creation we have been tempted by food. It was food that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and caused her to fall. Genesis 3: 6 says So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Eve saw that the tree was good food and it looked good to eat which made her greedily want it. Why not, it looks really good....

It was also part of the destruction of Sodom. Ezekiel 16:49 says - Look this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Sodom was full of pride, gluttony, idleness, sexual sin and neglected those in need. Gluttony was one of the sins that brought down the great city of Sodom and made her and her daughter an abomination to God.

Proverbs 23:21 - For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

Titus 1:12-13 - One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in faith.

Proverbs tells us that the glutton is the same as a drunkard and will find only poverty. In Titus, Paul’s calls the glutton lazy and tells us to sharply rebuke him so that they may be sound in faith. In other words, gluttony will pull you away from being completely sound in the faith and should be rebuked.

In Philippians 3:19 Paul tells us this: Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

Paul is warning us, that gluttony will eventually lead to destruction because we will be putting it before God as an idol. He further states that a glutton’s glory will actually be his shame because they are looking at earthly things and not at heavenly things.

If we as Gods people are going to really become serious contenders for the faith, we must begin to put aside the "acceptable sins" in our lives. We must call a sin a sin and stop pouring sugar on top of it to make it look sweeter. Gluttony is a sin, and in Gods eyes it is not something to gloss over and accept in our lives. We are called to serve, which means we put our desires aside and do the will of the Father. Our body is no longer our own, it belongs to Christ. We must begin to treat it as such.