In my past, I had the opportunity to do cooking demonstrations for gas grills. It was during that process that I created several of my family’s favorite summer time dishes – mustard chicken, apple pie chicken, and pancake pork roast. For those that are intrigued or want a recipe see me after church. I am often asked, “How did you come up with that?” It is in that moment that I tell them my ‘pizza story’ - When cooking you must be willing to take risks and try things that are new. But what if it is doesn’t work out? Remember that this is America and throw it out and order pizza!
And so we begin our discussion of two more of the Seven Deadly Sins - Gluttony and Greed. These two sins go far beyond how they are generally defined. The chief error about Gluttony is to think it only pertains to food. There are at least three forms of Gluttony:
1) Wanting more pleasure from something than it was made for
2) Wanting it exactly our way
3) Demanding too much from people
Greed is not only about money. Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, but greed also ignores the realm of the spiritual in the pursuit of the material. There are at least three forms of Greed:
1) obsessive desire for more material goods and the attendant power.
2) fearful need to store up surplus for a vaguely defined time of want.
3) desire for more earthly goods for their own sake.
But what do greed and gluttony look like in our world or in our lives today?
It is a trash can filled with a poor tasting dinner and an empty pizza box.
It is the abundance of things we gather in the name of collecting: movies, trading cards, antiques, hats, trinkets, etc.
It is our desire to have things exactly our way. Food having to be prepared just right, or in just the right amount, but it isn't limited to food.
It is our complaints about unimportant defects in a product, the temperature in the room, or even the color of a laundry basket. (there is a certain amount of discomfort to be expected in life, but a Glutton will have none of it!)
It is our inordinate desire to consume more than that which is required. Some people can't have enough toys, television, entertainment, sex, or even friends (ie Facebook).
In relationships, one person desires the other's company constantly, to the point that the other can barely maintain a sense of independence. There can be a healthy and natural enjoyment of time spent with friends and acquaintances, but some people just can't get enough
Gluttons talks too much and invade our time and our space.
It comes in the form of Credit Cards that remove delayed gratification and feed both our greed and our gluttony.
They show up in our compulsion to diet or eat just the right things in a controlling manner.
Greed and gluttony how up in our inability to care for others who face starvation in our community and the world.
They show up in our short-term thinking that ignores the consequences for the following generations.
Greed and gluttony show up in our drinking the water polluted by factories dumping untreated waste water.
It shows up in our language that centers on what ‘I’ want.
They show up in the underpaid salaries and wages of the lower class.
They show up in our callous treatment of the refuge and the immigrant.
Greed keeps war, violence and destruction of lives and property a dominating experience in the lives of so many.
They show up in our consumer mentality that more choices aren’t just needed, but choices are our right. (How many Pop Tarts do we need?)
They show up in the extra piece of pie, the larger house, the nicer car, the larger television, and the super sized meal.
All of this and more occurs in our lives as we claim our constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness. It is in that pursuit that we have created this consumer driven frenzy.
But in the last 100 years with all the new inventions, the ever increasing means of choice, have we created in more innate ability to have more happiness?
We have so much more than the generations that have gone before us and yet we have no more happiness and many would argue that we have less happiness in our lives.
So how do we reduce, or even end, this pursuit of greed and gluttony in our lives?
The discovery that possessions do not equal happiness is the beginning of the end for gluttony in our lives. This process begins by deliberately reducing our use of pleasurable things not in eliminating them. When eating quit before feeling stuffed. With people, allow for some quiet time together, and also get some time alone. Of course, if time alone is pleasurable then get out more often with your family and friends. And if the new recipe doesn’t quite taste perfect, eat it anyway.
Part of the process for removing greed from our lives may be to embrace poverty. We need not become homeless, but we can learn to do with less. We can try to use less of the world's goods. We can stop accumulating so many things. We can embrace the concept: "Live simply, that others may simply live."
The obvious cure is to divest oneself of as much as possible. Then as we practice this concept in our lives, we will realize that we don't really need that much. Another suggestion in eliminating greed and gluttony from our lives might be to consider the grave.
It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2 NIV
The author of Ecclesiastes understood that people have a much better ‘picture’ of what is important while contemplating life at the time of death. Consider that as people get older, or during terminal illness, people have a habit of making lists of final wishes and spend a great deal of time giving things away. There is a sense of knowing that the material is becoming in-material. How different our lives would be if we spent lives living life to the fullest and not waiting to discover it in the end.
If we are destined for heaven, then the temporary enjoyment of trinkets in this life is simply absurd. Simple meditation on this begins to loosen the grip of objects and things on the heart. How much is enough? Church when will we stop dancing with sin? When will we stop pretending that sin isn’t deadly?
When will we realize that we who call ourselves Christian are not immune to sin let alone the Seven Deadly Sins? When will we acknowledge the sin in our own lives and not just the sins of society?
So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.
James 4:7-10 The Message
Is today the day you surrender your desires to God and begin living the life God intended you to live?
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