March 21 - Drunkeness * Gluttony * Debauchery

One would think, being one of the seven deadly sins, that Gluttony would be found more often in the Bible than it is.  I was surprised anyway.

I looked it up, intent on finding out where eating becomes a sinful act.  It is most literally translated, “riotous eating.”  Eating in a riotous fashion – are you picturing Black Friday shopping meets the buffet table, too?

Eating becomes sinful in the context of substituting in some way for God’s goodness, trying to fill ourselves.  A mental/emotional motivation.  I’ll post more on that another time.

But then there is a purely physical pleasure motivation that can turn eating into sin.

Now, to be clear, eating is supposed to be enjoyed.  God created food in countless varieties and textures and tastes, and created wonderfully gifted people to combine tastes and flavors into some of the most exquisite pure pleasure out there.  In Ecclesiastes Solomon admonishes,

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.”  (Ecc 9:7)

“He (God) makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate – bringing food from the earth: wine gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains the heart.”  (Psalm 104:14-15)

Enjoying food like enjoying wine is not sinful, until, as in wine, one lets themselves become drunk.

There’s the line.  Wine is good, getting drunk is sinful.  Ephesians 5:18 emphatically declares,

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

1 Timothy 3:3 and Proverbs 31:4 both admonish elders and kings to not be drunk.

Think of the drunk mistakes in the Bible – Noah, after the flood, lying down naked and shameful for his sons to see.  Lot getting drunk and not realizing it was his own daughter’s improper advances.  Proves the ‘leads to debauchery’ right there.

Debauchery, per Bing, is unrestrained self indulgent immoral behavior.  (Trust me.  Or if you look it up, don’t do it when kids are around.  That word bings back a bunch of awful images.)

Dissipation, again, per Bing, is 1) overindulgence, in the pursuit of physical pleasures.  2) Wasteful use, squandering of resources. 3) Idle or frivolous amusement or diversion.

Synonyms to these words = orgy, bender, binge.

So, gluttony may not occur verbatim all that often, but debauchery and dissipations sure do.  And I believe they are the words that point to the same point –

As drinking wine is to drunk, so is eating food is to dissipation.  There’s a line when enjoyed (good) and enjoyed in excess (bad) is crossed and the act no longer pleases God.

Where’s the line?  Where’s the line between not drunk and drunk?  Exactly.  It’s gray and fuzzy and different for everyone. 

So I go back to alertness, mindfulness.  Eating and drinking and living on purpose, with His purpose and Glory in mind. 

I’ll share two more verses, both in the context of explaining the coming of End Times, when Jesus will return and our opportunities to be salt and light on this earth will be over.  Again, I refer to “Satan’s Seductive Lullaby post” – the time is short.  The day of salvation is near.  We don’t have time to be all bound up with the world and its distractions:

Jesus says, “Be careful, (be alert and on guard!) or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.”  (Luke 21:34)

“So then, let us not be like the others, who are asleep, (Christians awakeasleep, dulled by the world) but let us be alert and self-controlled.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  Be since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:6-8)

So, be filled with the Spirit, till you are full.  Seek first the Kingdom of God.  It might be easier to write than to live out, as these old habits of riotous eating are so normal, so ingrained, breaking them would be like learning how to respond to food all over again.  But the key is I don't have to do alone, with my own vacillating will-power.  I don't even have to come at the habit head on, but retreat to my Maker, seeking Him, and allow Him to fill me full.