GLUTTONY

1.) Gluttony:

God told Ezekiel to tell His people that Sodom's sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and did loathsome things, so I wiped her out, as you have seen. “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more loathsome things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you! You should be deeply ashamed because your sins are so terrible. In comparison, you make your sisters seem innocent! Eze 16:49-52

The church

This is the least talked about sin in the church and we can see the results of that. So many Christians are living their lives unhealthy and over weight. I know because I am one of them but, I have made a vow to change and by me following God’s instructions, there will be a change. With gluttony comes laziness. When you overeat you are very sleepy. Food is supposed to be energy but, when you overeat the opposite happens. In one situation, God caused a famine to happen because of people overeating, over indulging. Gluttony has also been associated with not thinking about the poor. You have enough to feed the poor but instead, you would rather overeat than to share. We say that there are no big sins and little sins and that all sin is the same. Well, when we repeat that saying we deceive ourselves because God himself put a degree on sin. We miss quote or miss-understand what that means and we get that miss-understanding because of the part where if you brake one law you broke them all. That in its entirety means…you are a law breaker. You can’t say I broke a little law so that makes me a law abiding citizen. No, if you break one law, you are a law breaker period. If someone is not saved and some lied to a brother and another killed the brother, your fate will remain the same. You will both go to hell. If one who is not save steal a candy bar and another steal a diamond ring worth millions, you will both go to hell. The fate is the same. However, God does put degrees on sin if you pay attention to His word you will see where He puts degrees on sin. Even the punishment is based on the degree of the sin. If a man takes someone’s donkey he will have to pay it back three fold but if a man kill his brother he will be put to death. If a woman is caught in adultery she is put to death but if a woman take bread that do not belong to her, she will have to pay it back 3 fold. So as you can see, even though they are guilty of doing wrong, the punishments fit the crime and there are degrees to the crime. When we say the punishment fit the crime is because God was the one who establish what is fitting. So we can quash the notion that there are no little sins and big sins. Yes there are. But, God still hate sin, big or little God hate sin. We have to get that straight.

So what is the earthly punishment for gluttony health wise?

Well, there’s diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol to name a few. All of these things you can die from. You reap what you sew. God just allows what he has set up to take its course. Now the problem is…there are so many health issues that comes with obesity and in the church, we have people coming to the alter praying that God will heal them from their diabetes or high blood pressure but go home and continue to eat the foods that got them in that situation. Do you really expect God to heal you every time you lose control of your eating habit? God has given us the tools we need to live a healthy and sin free life and He is the Holy Spirit. But…instead of taking heed to the Holy Spirit we lose control. You will reap what you sew and that is a fact. It is time that the church start teaching on the earthly repercussion for sinning the “7 deadly sins”. 

Gluttony is also a learned behavior sadly by most of the Christian families. Teaching bad habits is a terrible thing because the kids do not know that it is wrong to over eat. It is one thing to know that it will change your outer appearance but it’s another to learn that it is a sin. A lot of people find it hard to believe that it is a sin because so many Christian leaders are over weight. You see the pastor with his big belly giving the sermon on how to live right when he clearly has no self control. When was the last time, if ever, a minister preached about gluttony? He can not be a proper witness because he cannot deliver ALLthe instructions of the true word of God.

Why is it important to teach this?

God punished prophets for not delivering the word to his people because they were afraid of the reactions they knew they would get from the people. The same goes for those who feel they can’t deliver that message because of how they look. We must be a good/right witness to represent God properly so there will be no guilt when we are doing the job God has instructed us to do. Blessings come to those who are obedient. Now we must be an example not just in words but in actions. Those who are not a right representative God will remove their lamp stand. What is a lamp stand? It’s one that gives light. You will no longer shine but remain silent and dim. It doesn’t mean you are going to hell it means your services are no longer needed because you are causing more damage than good.

I use to wonder what it means when God said that those who sin certain sins must be stone to death because they will corrupt the whole camp “if you will.” Well we can look today and see how that is possible.

In conclusion

I just gave the example of the church and how almost every member is over weigh. They are teaching terrible habits and people are following the same terrible habit. We have our so call fellowships were everyone brings a potluck dish and what we end up doing is indulging in the sanctuary. Do we think about inviting the poor so they can see our example of love by giving? We most likely over eat which brings shame to God. Also outside people will start to judge goodness by your example. Some people who are not saved may feel that they are better than the saved because they do more and live better.They start to judge us calling us hypocrites and it is a well deserved title. We will bring shame to ourselves and will be judged on what is right by the unsaved like the example in Ezekiel. This is what happens when God allows our sins to take its course. But, God is so good because even though he will allow that to happen it entail brings shame and embarrassment which will cause us to wake up and change. God said he will keep his covenant with us. This is why we are saved even when we mess up. Everyone should lift Him up and give Him praise!!!