Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! This vice really hit home. Gluttony, like all the vices, begins with something created for good but sin creeps in and our desires run amok. Gregory the Great from the Middle Ages summed gluttony up in five categories:

Too daintily (nothing is ever quite right)

Too sumptuously (lavishly)

Too hastily (gobble and go)

Too greedily (ravenously-think Augustus Gloop)

Too much (tastes like more)

We learned that “what’s being eaten” deals with the first two and “how the food is eaten” deals with the last three. Indulgence whets the appetite instead of satisfying it. Ecclesiastes 6:7 reminds us…”his appetite is not satisfied.”

The trouble with instant gratification is it only lasts for an instant. This quick fix leaves us depleted and spiritually starved. We’re made to find our flourishing in more than physical pleasure. Something I need to remind myself when I reach for chocolate!

God made food good for our bodies and He made taste buds for us to savor the flavor. It all goes south when we try to do what Adam and Eve did long ago in the garden. When we choose to rely on food or drink instead of God we thwart our spiritual growth.

Every virtue has two vices, extremes in both directions. Those joyless about food lack appreciation, while the self-indulgent are striving to provide pleasure through food.

How do we get off this hamster wheel and unlearn the bad habits we’ve picked up?

Rebecca DeYoung guides us in Glittering Vices to give up gratification for gratitude.Yes, intentionality is key as is practice. Will it happen overnight? Not a chance, change takes time, however, rightly forming our desires will put us on the right pathway.

Please join Kate and Sheila as they strive to say, Good-bye gluttony, Hello temperance.