“Lord Deliver Me”… from My Gluttony
by Abiding Love
Luke 12:19 — “And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'”
We continue a devotional series on what are known as the “seven deadly sins”. Such a list isn’t found in Scripture, even though each of these sins are mentioned often. The seven deadly sins are seven ways our naturally sinful heart shows itself. These wrong attitudes of the heart are at the root of much of our sinful behavior. They also sit beneath much of our misery because they undermine having God as the joy and center of our life.
Have your hobbies ever got in the way of your responsibilities? Have you looked at your credit card bill at the end of the month and realized that you have spent beyond your means on eating out? Do you ever find yourself focusing so much on the feeling you get from the music or art in church (or other places) that you pay no attention to the actual message? Have you become captivated by marking things off your bucket list? Do you eat for the sake of dealing with your feelings or stress? Do you dream of a retirement where you can finally take life easy; just focus on eating, drinking, and doing what your heart desires to make you happy?
The sin of gluttony comes in many shapes and sizes. It is a sin of more than just eating too much. Instead, this sin is whenever our chasing after earthly pleasures and satisfying our desire to feel good goes out of line with God’s will for us. The picky eater and the coffee snob, the spring break party animal and the abuser of prescription drugs all have made a god of their stomach.
The verse above is a story Jesus told of a man blessed with a special amount of harvest. He was given so much by God, but his heart simply thought about how to use it for his own pleasures. All he had was to be used so that he could “take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.”
The Lord responds and call this man a “fool”. He was foolish because he had stopped worshiping God, giving thanks to him for his blessings and using what God gave him in ways that honored the Lord. The man was foolish because his idol was the momentary pleasures of this life. He was foolish because that night he would die, those tiny pleasures would pass and he would stand condemned for his sin.
We live in a world that lives for the pleasures of this world. Don’t be sucked in. Enjoy God’s rich earthly gifts and blessings, but don’t leave God behind in their pursuit.
Who doesn’t find themselves in this list of pleasure-seeking somewhere? We have all done it. We have all sinned. What are we do to do?
Confess our sinful attitudes and actions to our Lord. Then trusting in God’s promises, seek from Him the joy and peace of forgiveness and salvation. For the answer to our sins of pleasure seeking is Jesus Christ. Jesus ate and drank. He took time to rest and recover from hard work. Jesus also lived perfectly to glorify his Father in heaven, never once turning earthly pleasures into that which is more important than His Father. Jesus’ obedience has now been made yours in your baptisms. Jesus innocent suffering and death is now that which God declares the full price so that you are forgiven of all your sins.
Find true pleasure in Jesus your Savior. He has freed you from the guilt of seeking the world. He is truly the greatest treasure you have which you can seek in place of this world.
Peace in Jesus,
Pastor John Gensmer
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