What is it that, if it was taken from you, would take with it your joy?
That thing is your treasure.
And last week, I realized, with a pang of humbling conviction, that I was treasuring food way too much.
If anyone can get away with gluttony, it would be me. I'm 19, I work out, I run Spartan races, I'm careful to only eat the healthiest foods (usually, at least)- lots of people struggle with gluttony, but I can't be one of them!
And then my little brother has to go to the bathroom right as my chimichanga comes out of the kitchen at the Mexican restaurant, piping hot, and as I stand up to escort my sibling my joy stands up too... but only to walk in the opposite direction.
Gluttony really isn't about having a big belly. That's a side-effect that we may or may not experience, but the lack of that particular side-effect doesn't mean that there aren't other fruits growing, buffet-style, off the tree of our plate-shaped sin.
It's about satisfaction; mastering the flesh; seeing food as a wonderful gift from God that is to be enjoyed, rather than seeing food as my source of joy, and becoming one of those whose god is their stomach (Phil. 3:19).
It's not a conscious thing- sin rarely is! I certainly don't bow down, thrice a day, before a golden Vita-Mix in worship.
But that only makes it more dangerous, because it's hard to justify bowing down to blenders, but that third plate of Thanksgiving dinner- well, it is Thanksgiving, after all! And I'll burn it off in my workout tomorrow, anyway.
And so, I pray- God, deliver me from the snare of gluttony; from the demands of my flesh; from the very snare which David prayed upon his enemies (Ps. 69:22)!
I want to be an 80% eater- not a 105% eater. In other countries and other times, people are/were used to eating to refuel, not to gorge and satisfy themselves. I, on the other hand, am used to eating, not until I am no longer hungry, but until I am full.
That's not really healthy; it doesn't benefit the body; it certainly doesn't benefit the soul.
Eating too much damages productivity; it results in lethargy, in discomfort, and in physical unpreparedness.
If I am mastering my flesh properly, the result should be energy and readiness for whatever tasks lie ahead.
So I've come up with an accountability question for my sisters to ask me at the end of every meal-
"Could you do burpees right now?"
