Let's say there's a girl who's a normal weight and healthy, according to their physical appearance. We'll call her Debby (mostly because I don't think I know any Debbys...). Debby is young and fairly active. She loves to cook and bake. She sometimes scrolls through Pinterest looking for recipes to make that look delicious. She spends a couple hours a week looking on Pinterest, foodgawker.com, reading food blogs, etc.
Most people probably wouldn't look at Debby and think she's a glutton. They wouldn't assume that's one of her main struggles, but after chatting with a lot of different young women (and older women as well), gluttony is a huge area of stress and even sin in many of their lives. But it is sad to see how common and how easy it is to get sucked into the trap of being obsessed with food.
Debby could be the kind of girl who weighs in at an average, healthy weight. But it could be plaguing her mind and affecting her relationships in a way that food never should.
Here's the thing. This is a food blog and food is nice and it tastes good and we need it.
But I've struggled with gluttony for a while now. I can't tell you when it started, it's been at least 5 years. Perhaps it's always been there, crouching in the corner, like sin does sometimes. Perhaps a better way of describing it that doesn't seem so "seven deadly sins" is idolizing food. It's a real thing that happens when people love to cook and enjoy food a good deal. Let me tell you--it's certainly a real thing in America, too.
And sometimes, in my opinion, gluttony reveals itself in America as anorexia. Or counting calories. Or over-exercising. Or binge-eating. Or veganism, or fad diets.
(Not to say that veganism or special diets are inherently bad!) The idolatry and obsession with food from stress or boredom or whatever else pushes you to seek comfort in food is disgusting and very prevalent in our culture.
I'm still learning and by no means have this figured out, but ever since I realized that this battle with gluttony is a real and disturbing thing, I've realized something amazing:
Jesus is the bread of life, and He offers us living water. He makes it so we will someday never hunger nor thirst again. (John 6:35)
His words ought to be sweeter than honey to us. (Psalm 119:103)
His judgements, also are better than gold and sweeter than honey. (Psalm 19:10)
And more recently I've been thinking about this:
If food ever--ever gets in the way of you loving a brother, sister, or stranger, and seeking God's Kingdom IT IS AN ISSUE, and it needs to stop. That means counting calories, eating selfishly (through diets or pickiness), or just being a terrible witness of how God's grace satisfies us. (Romans 14:15)
I need to hear it just as much as anybody else in this world, but let's all remember that food is a good gift from God, but it's ridiculous to love the gift more than the Giver.
In light of the beautiful gift of God's provision in my life (despite me not purchasing groceries for about 3 weeks), I threw together a delicious beef and noodles with what I had in my fridge & pantry. I'll share it because it's tasty and also provide a quickly-taken phone picture in order for you to know what it may look like should you someday make it.
Beef and Noodles
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
1 lb Beef chuck (cut into chunks of whatever size)
1-2 cups beef stock/broth
1 onion (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
pinch cardamom
2 - 2.5 cups egg noodles
1 tbs oil (olive, sunflower, vegatable, etc.)
salt & pepper to taste
In a medium saucepan, begin to sauté the onions in the oil on medium-high heat. Before transparent, add chunks of beef. Cook until browned and no red juice is oozing out of the beef. Add garlic and cook for only about a minute, then pour in stock/broth. Add noodles, stir and make sure to get all the noodles wet. Then add Worcestershire sauce and spices. Make sure the liquid is boiling, then cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Let simmer and steam for 15-20 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure noodles are wet and in the liquid. Add more stock/broth if it becomes dry and the noodles aren't done. Test the noodles and when they are cooked and not crunchy, be thankful that you have been provided with a delicious meal and eat up!
