John MacArthur writes:
A man once came into my office asking to confess a sin. He was obviously serious and quite broken up. He said his sin was gluttony. When I remarked that he did not look overweight, he replied, “I know. It is not that I eat too much but that I want to. I continually crave food. It’s an obsession.”
[John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master’s College and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry.]
"Covetousness," MacArthur explains, "is much like this man’s gluttony. You do not have to acquire a lot of things to be covetous. In fact, you do not have to acquire anything at all. Covetousness is an attitude; it is a wanting to acquire things, longing for them, setting our thoughts and attention on them—whether we ever possess them or not."
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).
It turns out that gluttony isn't just bad for your health. It's actually bad for your chances of surviving a car crash, as well.
According to Chris O'Connor, CEO of the world's largest crash dummy manufacturer, Humanetics, obese persons are 78% more likely to die when involved in an auto accident than a person of less weight. In response to these statistics, the industry in now doing crash tests with increasingly large dummies. While the average crash dummy used to weigh a modest 167 lbs, new dummies are weighing in at a whopping 270 lbs.
The reason for the increased risk isn't just that we're getting fatter. "The reason is the way we get fat," says O'Connor. "We get fat in our middle range at our core. And we get out of position in a typical seat."
When the core of our being is inflated with self-gratification, we find ourselves increasingly at risk--spiritually and physically.
To be squarely and securely seated for the ride of life, trim away the lusts of the flesh, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!
"A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls" (Proverbs 25:28).
"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27).
"But hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined … Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age," (Titus 1:8; 2:12).
Of the gluttonous and ungodly, "Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (Philippians 3:19).
We consume a lot of food—much it of junk—in the course of a year, which really adds up during the course of a lifetime. As Americans, we have a veracious appetite for feeding the physical body. What would happen if we had an equal appetite for feeding our spirits? The answer is we'd be just like Jesus, who said, "My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Wouldn't it feel great to kick back from that table and say, I feel like I ate a ton! ?