Gluttony; an Often Overlooked Sin
July 9, 2014
Our land is the land of excess. I was recently in a grocery store and was amazed that there was almost an entire aisle of Pringles! Do you remember when Gatorade only came in lemon-lime and you had only about 3 or 4 basic brand choices when it came to coffee? Who would have ever thought coffee was operating so far below its market potential for centuries!
The excesses of our land are not just about brand and item choices. An increasing number of people are overweight and obese. Unhealthy food is everywhere. Portions are increasing, buffets advertising “all you can eat” are sweet music to the ears of a “growing” number (no pun intended).
It is certainly not just about food. That is only one area of “gluttonous” behavior. People are spending hours in front of the television watching an increasingly “dumbed down” selection of programming on cable or satellite feeds with dozens, if not hundreds, of stations whereas there were only 3 or 4 channels not so long ago.
Some are gluttons when it comes to sports; spending large segments of their time watching others fulfill their dreams and athletic potential. Others are gluttonous when it comes to leisure time activities. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy,” but Johnny does need to do some work!
Recently the Nathan’s annual 4thof July hot dog eating contest took place, where else but on Coney Island! The event is covered each year on ESPN because competitive eating is apparently viewed by many as something of a sport.
Many are gluttonous when it comes to vices and habits, mainly for the release of endorphins that are brought about by, for instance, gambling. Or the physical buzz or drunkenness brought about by excessive consumption of alcohol or perhaps the high of a marijuana joint. Is a 3-pack a day smoker, not a glutton? How do you actually smoke 60 cigarettes in one, 24 hour period? I am highly curious as to how one can accomplish that feat! What about those who consume several cans of soda pop per day because they are addicted to caffeine? Perhaps a person is a gluttonous coffee drinker and their hand feels empty without holding a cup.
God and His Scriptures allow most things in moderation, but mankind’s lust often does not allow him to stop with a little, he races ahead toward excess. We all have a great tendency to be gluttonous in any number of behaviors. The more blatant forms of gluttony are mentioned above, but often this sin is much more subtle. Mankind has carefully developed little ways to cover and/or justify his gluttony. In his classic fictional work The Screwtape Letters,C.S. Lewis writes,
My Dear Wormwood, The contemptuous way in which you spoke of gluttony
as a means of catching souls . . . One of the great achievements of the last
hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on that subject, so
that by now you will hardly find a sermon preached or a conscience troubled
about it . . . This has largely been affected by concentrating all our efforts
on gluttony of Delicacy, not gluttony of Excess. Your patient’s mother,
as I learn from the dossier . . . is a good example. She would be
astonished – one day, I hope, will be – to learn that her whole life
is enslaved to this kind of sensuality, which is quite concealed from
her by the fact that the quantities involved are small. But what do
quantities matter, provided we can use a human belly and palate to
produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness, and
self-concern . . . She is always turning from what has been offered
her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile ‘Oh please, please . . .
all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest
weeniest bit of really crisp toast.’ You see? Because what she
wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never
recognizes as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however
troublesome it may be to others. At the very moment of indulging her
appetite she believes that she is practicing temperance. In a crowded
restaurant she gives a little scream at the plate which some overworked
waitress has set before her and says, ‘Oh, that’s far, far too much! Take
it away and bring me about a quarter of it.’ If challenged, she would say
she was doing this to avoid waste; in reality she does it because the particular
shade of delicacy to which we have enslaved her is offended by the sight of
more food than she happens to want . . . The woman is in what may be
called the ‘All-I-want’ state of mind. All she wants is a cup of tea
properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted.
But she never finds any servant or any friend who can do these simple things
‘properly’ – because her ‘properly’ conceals an insatiable demand for the exact,
and almost impossible, palatal pleasures which she imagines she remembers from
the past; a past described by her as ‘the days when you could get good servants’
but known to us as the days when her senses were more easily pleased and she
had pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those of the table.
Meanwhile, the daily disappointment produces daily ill temper: cooks give notice
and friendships are cooled.
This is quite humorous but also highly insightful as it highlights something very telling about human nature – that it is innately selfishness but also desperately tries to conceal that selfishness! Pampering the flesh, and trying to legitimize doing so, has replaced baseball as America’s new pastime!
Gluttony is a strong and compelling desire to put the wants and longings of the flesh above all else, including moderation, a servant’s heart, looking out for others, and any other Christian virtue. Recognizing the problem is the beginning. Working on the problem is the next step. All of us need to recognize that “enough” needs to trump “more” in our lives. When we can honestly say things like, “This is not about me,” “I’ve had enough,” and ask others in all sincerity, “What can I do for you today?” etc. then we are getting on the right track and gluttony is a sin that is being overcome in our lives.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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