Food for thought?
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work…”
- John 4:34
This week I participated in our annual all-church fast. But while my mind was working up a spiritual appetite, my stomach grumbled for sustenance. And in my hours of physical hunger, I got a taste of my human weakness. Everyday when the clock stroke 6pm, I inhaled whatever food was available and didn’t feel satisfied until that second serving of dessert. After a week of fasting and a good talk with a sister this weekend, I came to the realization that gluttony is a sin issue not addressed enough in my life and in the church. There is anything wrong with loving food; I believe that God has intended for us to enjoy life through our taste buds. But how often do we overindulge in our hunger, surpassing the threshold of comfortable satisfaction and encroaching on the territory of belt-unbuckling, food-comaing, and just flat out immobility?! I don’t know about you, but I catch myself eating one serving too much on a daily basis… but food is just TOO YUMMY!
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
- Romans 6:13
Perhaps it’s because I work in GI, but nothing grieves me more than the prevalence of gluttony in America. Just about every other patient I see with GI issues struggle with obesity. It doesn’t take a doctor to figure out the trend that over-consumption of food is the culprit for so many health problems, and not limited to the GI tract. I wish that people would stop denying that their problems are more deeply rooted than some unfortunate genetic disposition that sends acid up into their esophagus. Acid reflux medications are only a bandage on a bullet wound, a wound which I believe is caused by a deeper hunger for comfort and fulfillment in life.
I realize that gluttony is not easy to overcome, and self-control only sustains us for so long before we cave in to our cravings. We needn’t be so hard on ourselves and our eating habits, but perhaps it’s worthwhile to think about what our relationship to food says about how we deal with life. Is food carrying too much emotional impact in our lives? Unlike people or situations, food is controllable, never fails us and always satisfies; it becomes our defense mechanism when life gets sucky. But does it actually give us strength to overcome hardship, or is it just feeding our love handles and cultivating our weak will.
Gluttony, much like procrastination, spills over to other areas of our life as well. As we become more forgiving with our eating habits, it becomes more permissible to overindulge our other senses too. We begin to relax our discipline with money and time. Nothing lifts this girl’s mood more than a pair of new shoes. But before I break my scale or my wallet, how much should I instead cling onto the unfailing promise I have in Christ? His overflowing grace and His bottomless love? Unlike other self-help mechanisms, hungering for Christ has no negative consequences, but rather leads to eternal life. Our flesh is so weak, even a blessing like food can become an idol and object of sin. This is just one lesson I learned from fasting this week: anything and everything that is ever good comes from Christ alone, and above all else, I need to seek and delight in Him.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
- John 4:13-14
