Over Eating - The Accepted Sin

Over the years I’ve struggled to keep my weight down. It’s been like hell on earth, at times, battling myself. Food often looked like my friend but turned out to be my enemy - like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The palate’s delicacies are like the prostitute in David’s Psalms – continually drawing us to pleasures that are short lived and very destructive in the long run.

But what’s deeper in the soul where overeating is concerned? Why do we spend so much to get so little in the end? Is it like the rest of society’s vices – filling a void, comforting a hurt, suppressing a feeling, calling out for help or just rebelliously walking in self-satisfaction and destructive habits? It may be hard to stop the desire for food until we know what’s driving it – why it calls out to us when we are far from hungry or in need of replenishment.

Suppressing the appetite or saying ‘no’ to self are good, Biblical practices, but continually being consumed by thoughts of food shows a deeper underlying stronghold. The church doesn’t often recognize it as so, however, because it’s an accepted sin. Other sins seem to be far worse and are called out and condemned, while the plank remains in the over-eater’s eye.

This is not a note of condemnation; it’s a wake-up call, a call to see things as they really are, a call to cry out to God for help and a call to stop the flesh. It’s a call to myself, as well as the Body of Christ. We have to STOP over eating and killing ourselves – this is both physical and spiritual suicide and it deprives us of the funds and health needed to carry out God’s purposes. It's time to do something about it!

This is not something I often do, but I am recommending a short book as a jump start that may possibly help in this area: "Help! I'm a Slave to Food," (found on Amazon.com). If others have information you’d like to share, please post your positive comments and encouragement.

“We can [and must] do all things through Christ.” (Philp 4:13)