2 Corinthians 7:1 … let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
My goal for this blog is to dive God’s Word and see what it says. Obviously, since it is my blog the lessons/devotions are going to be my interpretation of what the Bible says, but I do not intend for this blog to be about me. This post however, will be about me and what God is telling me about a specific subject.
In my last post I said the Sermon on the Mount is basically a crash course on the culture of Heaven. Jesus gives a brief overview of what living in God’s kingdom is like and what is expected of its citizens. The Bible says we must not hold on to the old culture (the world) but have our minds renews so that we have a new mind-set and be conformed to Heaven’s culture (Romans 12:2, 1 Peter 1:14-15).
While the Sermon on the Mount is a synopsis of kingdom living, the Bible as a whole gives a complete picture of what is expected of us as naturalized citizens of heaven. We must be careful to accept kingdom values as our own rather than hold on to the values of the world.
There are some things mentioned as sin in the Bible that we do not normally consider sin. These sins are rarely preached about for fear of offending sensitive people. In fact, I have never heard a sermon or read a lesson regarding my greatest sin issue.
This sin is something that I have long been convicted of. For years God has tugged at my heart and I have put Him off. I fully acknowledge this sin and feel real shame about it but do very little to repent of it. To make matters worse, I engage in this sin regularly, even in the company of other Christians … even in the church building itself, and no one has ever called me out on it.
Had I been stealing or cursing, or committing adultery or blaspheming I am confident one of my brothers would have said confronted me but this sin is different. Most people in the church do not think of it as sin. My most glaring sin issue is gluttony.
Gluttony is a word that is not used very often anymore. In past generations it was considered one of the “seven deadly sins” but today it is virtually ignored. The consequences of gluttony might be frowned upon but even then it is considered almost taboo to confront someone due to their weight. Obesity is viewed as merely a medical condition rather than the consequence of sin.
I do want to point out that not all obesity is due to sin (gluttony). There are proven medical conditions that cause obesity. This post is not about those situations. Medical conditions should be dealt with medically. I do not have such a medical condition. I am obese because I engage in gluttony on a regular basis. Mine is a spiritual condition and must be dealt with spiritually.
At this point some Biblical lawyer will point out that the Bible never actually calls gluttony a sin. This may be true but when you read passages regarding gluttony it is obvious the Bible treats it in a negative light (Proverbs 23:21 & 28;7, Matthew 11:19, and Titus 1:12). As Christians we are called to conform to the image of Christ and to view everything as God views it. If the Bible views gluttony negatively then it is because God does so as well. If God is against something then we should be against it.
As I mentioned above, God has convicted me about gluttony for decades. That makes it sin for me (James 4:17). I cannot believe that I am the only person so convicted. Despite knowing God wanted me to control my eating I chose to let my eating control me. I believe there are many Christians just like me. I wanted to obey God but not as much as I wanted to eat. Which shows gluttony for what it is … a form of idolatry.
Any time something is more important than God, it is an idol. Food proved to take precedent over God in my life. God clearly told me He wanted me to exhibit self-control and my stomach told me to indulge. My stomach won the vast majority of the time.
I write this post as both a confession and a call to action. I am publicly acknowledging my sin (though it has been obvious to the public for decades) and calling other Christians who struggle in the same area to repent along with me. I have determined to turn away from idolizing food and through the power of the Holy Spirit to take control of my appetite. I invite everyone to hold me accountable to this.
To those Christians who also struggle with gluttony. I encourage you to stand strong and join me in rejecting this sin. Let us together throw away our idol and turn away from indulgence. Let us “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God”
Most gracious and awesome God, thank you for Your mercy in my life. Forgive me for the idols that I have held on to and grant me the will and the strength to overcome. Empower me to be able to rid myself of everything that defiles me and hinder my relationship with You.