I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not so great at moderation. In my efforts to lose my “baby weight,” I committed to a strict diet and exercise program, and I was extremely disciplined in it. On the other hand, when I chose to let myself “relax,” I was also great at making up for lost time by eating everything I had previously deprived myself of. Not a good strategy, to say the least.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it would mean to simply live a healthy lifestyle…nothing drastic…but making good decisions in terms of nutrition and fitness. I realized that one of my biggest hang-ups is that I love food, and I love eating. In my struggles to get my 2 year-old to finish his food, I discovered that he eats when he’s hungry, and will eat only until he isn’t hungry anymore, and then he’ll be on his way. This usually means leaving most of the food on his plate that I had prepared for him. He doesn’t enjoy eating. He eats out of necessity rather than pleasure.

I’ve never studied gluttony, but it seems to be a topic commonly overlooked by the American church. Wikipedia defines gluttony as “over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink or intoxicants to the point of waste.” I suppose this implies that food is not simply wasted when you throw leftovers out, is also wasted (and gluttonous) if you eat more than you need. Yikes. 

In my reading yesterday, I ran across a scripture that seemed to reach out from the page and punch me in the face. Ecclesiastes 10:17 says, “Blessed are you, O land……whose princes eat at a proper time - for strength and not for drunkenness.” I can’t help but think of the numerous times I’ve heard someone pray over a big, greasy pizza, asking God to bless it to the nourishment of our bodies. Really??

It turns out that what you eat is a bid deal to God. It not only matters with regard to taking care of our bodies as temples, but also in terms of what our minds dwell on and what our hearts desire. It matters what we spend our time doing and longing for…what we hunger and thirst for.

Sounds like it’s time I started eating for strength, because I could definitely use more of that.