Gluttony (Part 2): Am I a glutton?

Many people associate being overweight with being gluttonous. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, you can be skinny and still be a glutton.

Identifying whether or not you are a glutton depends mainly on the motive. Why does it take seconds, thirds or more? Why are you eating a whole cube of ice cream? Why are you overweight? Can you stop eating when you are full? Finding your reason will answer your question.

Well, that might be easier said than done. How do you find out your motivation? After all, most of us don’t really think about why we eat. However, we are instructed to treat our bodies as the temple of God.

^“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not yours “- 1 Corinthians 6:19

So deciphering our motives behind our eating habits is vitally important to understanding who is in control: God or food. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

• Am I full when I stop eating? Or am I too full?

• Am I frequently overloaded?

• Do I “deserve” a meal because I’ve had a bad day?

• Is my diet linked to my emotions?

• Am I trying to keep my weight under control?

• Is my weight the result of something I can control? Or is it a medical condition?

• Like why can’t I help it?

• Am I only eating certain foods because they make me feel better?

• Should I depend on a food or drink to keep up with the day?

These types of questions will show you whether or not you depend on food and / or drink instead of God. If you are an emotional eater, you depend on that food to make you feel better. Instead, you should be pouring out your heart before God and seeking Him to be the answer. If you are eating because you simply cannot control yourself (many have this problem at buffets), then you are allowing food to control your decisions instead of God. Am I continually eating out of boredom? If so, you are allowing laziness to turn you into a glutton.

It’s easy to allow gluttony to creep into our lives. Sometimes it is momentary and fleeting. One day that went wrong and we console ourselves with food, without depending on God to give us our comfort. Other times, it starts with a little here and a little there. Before we know it, we cannot control our eating habits and we have gained an excessive amount of weight.

In either case, you need to be vigilant to keep gluttony at bay. And for those who struggle with gluttony, they must go day by day, moment by moment, holding their heads high and trying to make each instance a victory and not a defeat.