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2007-08-07 issue:

Gluttony: insatiable consumption

A Grace and Truth column

by Clarence E. Rempel

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Living in the consumptive affluence of the United States makes it hard to escape or recognize my gluttonous habits. I live in the one-third of the world that is rich. We use twice as much energy per person as do our counterparts in England or Germany. We use 351 times as much energy as the average Ethiopian. U.S. citizens consume almost five times as much grain per person as people in developing countries.



The Christians in Corinth lived in a similar consumer culture. Corinth was the place for great food, entertainment, kinky sex and raucous worship at temples for the gods of the sea.

The Christians in Corinth, like us, had a lot to learn about sexual sanity and Last Supper sobriety. Their new Christian worship services reflected past gluttonous habits of pursuing the next adrenaline high. Seeking an ecstatic encounter with God, worshipers babbled in unintelligible languages. Wealthier members arrived early for the Lord’s Supper and gorged themselves on food and drink. Some were even drunk at Communion. Then when the poorer folk arrived, who had worked long and late, the food was gone.

Identifying gluttony: Overeating is the most common practice of gluttony, but natural appetites dominate us in other ways: gambling, smoking and drinking alcohol come to mind. Many things that are good in themselves, but gluttony is getting more than enough of good. What is enough? I know runners so addicted that they ruin knees and hips. Stock markets, video games, movies, sports, music collections, technical gadgets, clothes and cars all have gluttonous potential. The overindulgent pursuit of any pleasure is gluttony. And my daughter might say to me, “Dad, you are gluttonous about work.”

First Corinthians 6:12 begins, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.” One criterion for assessing gluttony is, Is this behavior beneficial? Not only for my body but for my relationships?

A second criterion follows: “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.” Is this behavior dominating my life? Am I obsessively preoccupied with this hobby, this sport, with drinking or eating?

Overcoming gluttony: Naming the insatiable desire and the consumptive behavior of gluttony is the first step toward freedom. I resist that term. But until we name the preoccupations of the mind and the accompanying behaviors as gluttony, we are not going to progress spiritually. We have to call sin sin. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins.” It doesn’t say, “If we confess our little idiosyncrasies.” If we confess sins, God not only forgives but goes to work purifying us from that sin. God even purifies us from “all unrighteousness.”

Second, get preoccupied with God and God’s work in the world. Gluttony tries to fill an emptiness in our life. Comfort food soothes feelings of loneliness, shame or rejection.

In Matthew 6, Jesus says folks are preoccupied with food, drink and clothes. Fill that hole with something else. Matthew 6:33 says, “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow” (The Message).

Gluttony can be overcome. The God who raised Jesus to life can raise you to new life. Overcoming sin is not about sheer willpower but God’s power transforming us when we name sin and refocus our life on God’s work in the world.

Clarence E. Rempel is a pastor at First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kan.

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