Photo by Catherine Heath on Unsplash
I hosted a podcast called Health Matters where I interviewed leading health experts. Brenda Wood is an internationally known motivational speaker, former TV host, and recovering bulimic who has gained and lost thousands of pounds.
He actually fought the food fight and won the battle. You can learn more about Brenda on her website.
How would you define gluttony?
“Well, I think first of all we need to talk about the definition of sin which is separation from God.
“The definition of gluttony, according to me, is eating more than my body needs. The dictionary says gluttony is overeating. It is excessive indulgence in the appetite for food. Luxury of the table. Variety of appetite. Filling beyond adequacy. Quite even disgust. And just plain old greedy. And I think many of us, at some point, have fallen into one of those categories. So that’s basically it.
“It’s eating more than our body needs. Some people will say—if you go to a fancy buffet and there are people there who are 475 pounds—and they’ll say, “Look at them. He is so greedy.’ But then there’s a guy who’s 110 pounds and his plate is stacked a foot and a half high and he flips eight times. He is also a glutton. He eats more than his body needs. And that’s the main thought about it.
Is a glutton always overweight or is an overweight always a glutton?
“No, no it isn’t. It’s hard to tell which is which until you see them on a table.
“I remember going to my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Big dinner, big event. All sorts of goodies and sweets for the world that came after. Big event. And we got back to her house and I had gotten fancy tarts and they hadn’t been served, so I said, “Anyone want a tart?” And they all said no, and I ate three or four. That’s the difference.
“I think gluttony has nothing to do with how full you feel. I think we use gluttony like people use drugs or alcohol or whatever to deal with pain we’re not ready to deal with.
What does gluttony have to do with the Bible?
“One of the passages that was key for me was Philippians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true and honest and just and pure and beautiful, whatever is good. If there is any virtue, any praise, think of these things.’
“We say things like, ‘My arms shake a week after I quit,’ or ‘I have the biggest hips in the world.’ “Elephants are smaller than me.” “I can’t go on a diet.” ‘I am hopeless.’ “I’m doomed to be fat for the rest of my life.”
“The Bible says we have self-control. Second Timothy 1:7 says, God has not given us a spirit of cowardice but of power and love and a common well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
“And I think we don’t understand how much God loves us. I wrote this little poem that kind of explains that.
This is what I am talking about, “My body is cloudy, my diet is weak. I will never be skinny like the size 3 I’m after. Oh my God how can you love me? I’m worried about myself. I’m disgusting in the way I devour food off the shelf.”
And God says in return, “No, you don’t understand child. My son died for you. He showed a love that is beyond himself and true.”
Me speaking, “What is it that you say, God? Did Jesus die for me? But you don’t understand I’m not much. I fail and fall and falter and stuff. You definitely don’t want me. I am worthless. sin. I am human. I am weak. I’m not even thin.”
And God says, “No, you don’t understand child. You are not useless to me. I will give you the reason to live and be.”
Me, “To look at you and know my own worth? Do you love me so much regardless of my circumference? Why God you may have died for me but now I see it. Now I see, now I see.”
“I had a cartoon in my office and it was this lady and she was at the gates of heaven and St. Peter met her and wouldn’t let her in. is not;
“Somehow we feel like we’re not good when we’re fat. We feel like we are less than. And we behave like this and then we eat worse than before.
What kind of sin is gluttony?
“There is intentional and unintentional sin. For example, if you go to a restaurant and you are trying to eat very well and you have cottage cheese and pineapple from the buffet. You’re doing your best, right?
But many chefs do not like the appearance of cottage cheese, so mix it with sour cream so that it is an unintentional sin. You ate this food but you didn’t want it.
“Willful sin is buying eight chocolates and sitting down and eating them all. It’s like that.”
I appreciated Brenda’s honest reflections on gluttony and sin.
Although the podcast is no longer available, if you would like a copy of any of the full transcript of the interview, please email me.
This was an excerpt from the Health Matters Podcast, believing that prayer and Bible study are to the spirit what exercise and healthy eating are to the body.
Blessings on your journey to health.
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