Be The Fruit

Idolatry Thursday – Food (Excerpt from Gluttony Paper).

by Bill Blair on 10/07/08 at 5:01 am

As many of you know, I have been researching and writing on the topic of gluttony for the past couple of weeks.  I wrote 18 pages worth of material, so you can imagine that I might have a lot to say on the subject.  I learned a lot of things in my research that I will be writing about, but today I want to examine what it is like to be controlled by our eating.

How much do you think about food?  Does your life revolve around your eating or does your eating revolve around your life?  This is a difficult one to gauge because we all need to eat.  There is a fine line between sinfully allowing food to control your life, and just being really hungry.  Elyse Fitzpatrick says that we should check how we react in restaurants when our food is messed up.  If we get really angry then we might be gluttons, and food might be an idol.

Below is an excerpt from my paper where I describe gluttony as controlling our lives which is the essence of idolatry. 

 Excerpt below:

The nature of gluttony is that people are controlled by their hunger or desire to eat.  The Apostle Paul wrote about how people can be controlled by their belly, he wrote:  “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Phil 3:19).  Paul explains that people are controlled by their bellies and find glory in their shame even though their end is ultimately destruction, which describes the true nature of gluttony.  The true nature of gluttony is to be consumed with a desire to eat to the point where people cannot see or do not care about the future consequences of eating to excess.  There are two good examples in the Bible that illustrate this point.

Esau’s Birthright.  A good example of this in the Bible can be seen in the case of Esau who sold his birthright for food.  The Bible explains that Esau came in from the field exhausted and saw the stew Jacob was cooking and asked Jacob for some (Gen 25:30).  Jacob refused to give Esau any stew unless Esau would first surrender his birthright to Jacob (Gen 25:31).  To this, Esau responded, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (Gen 25:32). Thus, Esau gave up his birthright for some bread and a bowl of soup (Gen 25:33-34).  Later, Esau regretted his decision (Gen 27:34-36).

The example of Esau shows a good example of gluttony.  Esau was so controlled by his desire to eat that he had no concern for future consequences.  Elyse Fitzpatrick explains:  “Esau’s immediate, demanding, physical desire for food (which was a good, God-given hunger) became more important to him than God’s demand and call on his life.”[1]  The writer of Hebrews even uses this story as a warning to believers.  The passage teaches for no one to be “unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears” (Heb 12:16-17).  In the story of Esau, we have a warning and a good example of a person who was controlled by his desire to eat rather than doing the right thing.

Israel in the Desert.  The second example we have from the Bible shows an entire group of people who were controlled by their desire to eat rather than obeying God.  In this circumstance, the people were not hungry, but desired to eat something different, something better, and something they craved.  This example is of the people of Israel in the desert who longed to eat meat rather than manna.

After leaving Egypt, the people of Israel grumbled with fear that they would starve and wished to return to Egypt (Exod 16:2-3); therefore, God gave them a daily provision of manna, food from Heaven, to eat (Exod 16:4).  God provided manna to the people of Israel for forty years (Exod 16:35).  God provided the people of Israel food through what was a daily miracle.  Every day, God provided for the sustenance of his people, but yet that did not satisfy them.  We read that the people of Israel began to long to eat something other than what God had provided for them; they longed to eat meat (Num 11:4).  God gave them meat, but he gave it to them in excess in order to punish them for their disobedience (Num 11:20).  Despite the miracle of God’s gracious gift of manna, the people were controlled by their desire to eat something that tasted better, which caused them to be disobedient to God, and were thus punished.

The two examples show how one’s hunger or desire for taste can become the controlling factor in one’s life.  Esau ignored his future inheritance in order to satisfy his hunger.  Israel ignored the command of God because of their desire for a different taste.  Eating becomes gluttony when the desire to eat causes a person to ignore the consequences of their overeating or disobey God.  Most people would not give up their birthright for a bowl of soup, but many will ignore the health consequences of overeating just to satisfy their desires.  People do not have the opportunity to grow tired of eating manna anymore, but many people turn their nose up at eating leftovers or simple food, and long to eat rich foods such as steak or lobster.  At its essence, gluttony is allowing food and eating to control our lives rather than God. 

Are you controlled by your food?  I know I am sometimes, and have been a lot in my life. 

Until next time, put God first and “be the fruit.”

[1]Elyse Fitzpatrick, “Disorderly Eating … for the Rest of Us,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling 12 (1993), 21.