Good Morning.
Praise the Lord it is Friday. We will continue to look at traditional Seven Deadly Sins. If you like to read the past devotionals again, you can visit my web site at "Brownnaik.com".
Today, we will look at ANGER -- the anger of man is often unjustified and is many times uncontrolled. It is often based on insufficient cause and expressed without due regard for the consequences. (Jonah 4:1-11) The first mention of anger was outside the Garden of Eden. Unjustified and uncontrolled anger has led many persons into greater sin, even acts of violence. For instance,“Cain grew hot with great anger” and slew Abel. (Genesis 4:5, 8)
Belligerent people often struggle to control their anger. Their harsh words and sharp tone of voice tend to escalate feelings of hostility in some situations. 70% of arguments are caused or escalated by a harsh tone of voice. "A harsh word stirs up anger, but a soft answer turns away wrath" (Proverbs 14:1).
Faith has a way of turning anger to love. Proverbs 10:12 says, "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins." The Lord’s love enables us to turn our hatred into real love for our enemies.
One family, who turned their hatred into love, is an example of how to turn a tragedy into a triumph. In Janurary of 1981, Chester Bitterman, a Wycliffe Bible Translator was kidnapped, tortured and killed by terrorists in Columbia, South America. You could well imagine the hatred felt by his family toward the captors. However, Bitterman’s family did not project their anger against the murderers. Through faith, the family, their community, and the church decided to do good to the murderers of the friend they loved.
In April of 1982, the family decided to apply Christ’s commandment, "Love your enemies and do good to those who despitefully use you. Then your reward in heaven will be great" (Luke 6:35,36). The entirety of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania contributed money to buy an ambulance for the State of Meta in Columbia, where the young linguist was brutally murdered. Chester Bitterman’s parents even traveled to Columbia to present the ambulance to the people. During the ceremony, Chester’s mother struggled with her emotions, but spoke these words, "We are able to do this because God has taken the hatred from our hearts.
Only God is able to help us substitute love for hatred. Jesus gave us the perfect example of one who returned love for hate. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit are we able to return blessings for curses. With the power of God we are able to return good for evil.
Recognize the damage that fleshly anger can bring. "Anger is the chief saboteur of the mind, a significant factor in the formation of many serious diseases." It is the leading cause of misery, depression, inefficiency, sickness, accidents, loss of work, time wastage, financial loss in industry, marital conflicts, hyper-tension, alcoholism, frigidity, impotence, children’s defiance, rebellion, and many physical illnesses. "Elimination of hostility is a key factor in solving many of life’s serious problems." (Gary Collins, Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide, page 100, Zondervan). Proverbs 15:1 - A harsh word stirs up strife, but a soft answer turns away wrath.
On the other hand, a person who is angry on the right grounds, against the right persons, in the right manner, at the right moment, and for the right length of time deserves great praise. (How many of us can claim to be that person . . . really?)
Understand the righteous causes of anger. Anger may be caused by injustice as when Jesus saw how the moneychangers were turning the temple into a house for profiteers. Jesus said, "My Father’s house is for prayer, but you have turned it into a robber’s den" (Matt 21:13). Paul said in Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry, but sin not, do not let the sun go down on your anger." In other words, there are times when we should be righteously indignant, but do not let anger become a regular part of your thought process or it will destroy you from within.
Appreciate the reasons why some people struggle with anger. When people are rejected, put down, or feel unjustly criticized or humiliated, they may react with anger. When Jesus was unjustly persecuted He entrusted Himself to the one whose judgment is best. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake."
People who are hurt or threatened often want to take vengeance into their hands. The Bible says, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
"Greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world." "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord I will repay". "Do not be overcome with evil, overcome evil with good."
Understand some of the factors of anger. We can control our attitudes. Jesus said, "It is not what goes into a person that defiles them, but what comes out of a man’s heart. It is not what happens to us that is responsible for our anger, but we are responsible for our reactions to provocation. We should not say that the devil made me angry or a certain person caused me to blow-up. Paul said, "Have the attitude which was in Christ Jesus."
In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a routine baseball game, but what happened that day was anything but routine. The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in the brawl. The warfare quickly spread to the grandstands. Among the fans the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire spread to 107 other Boston buildings as well.
Solutions for dealing with anger practice Christ’s humility, forgiveness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, Biblical thinking, obedient lifestyle, servant lifestyle, trusting heart, and prayerful habits are the essential characteristics of one who is able to effectively turn away anger.
"Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven us." Most people are starved for a little kindness, so show them that kindness. "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, along with every kind of malice" (Ephesians 4:28-32).
Remember this thought: Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of the mind.
In Christ,
Brown
Click here to view video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt0WluTpFTg
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 2-7-08
Praise the Lord for this Holy Season. The Lord who is Holy calls us to be holy . He calls us to be set apart, consecrated to Him and to His eternal and global cause of the Kingdom. To day we will look at " sloth", one of the seven deadly sins that clings to us like a blood sucking leach. Sloth suggests laziness, stupefied laziness, time-wasting, talent-wasting laziness. Sloth is the persistent state of being “tuned out”; of being unengaged; of relishing indifference. Sloth is the state of remaining uninvolved, uncommitted, uncaring. Sloth is the state of being a spectator in life, even willfully absent from life. We are seduced with a selfish desire to keep ourselves for ourselves, the “selfish” desire to keep our own life uncomplicated and unperturbed by ignoring people whose lives appear more difficult than ours, even endangered.
In my former life, I, worked in the Psychiatric hospital settings I remember people complain to me that life has cheated them, because they aren’t having a good time 24 hours per day without interruption.We all know, advertising has fostered utterly unrealistic expectations in people. Advertising has led people to believe that life is, or can be, or at least is meant to be, something like an endless beach holiday in the Bahamas : uninterrupted pleasure, no demands, no setbacks, no grief, everyone dancing and skipping in the company of “winners” with gorgeous bodies and fashionable clothes, no frustration or anxiety or pain. The problem, is that no one’s life is like this, and no one’s is ever going to be, even though too many people have been led to believe that what’s advertised is normal. To expect all this is to want sloth. The banality of many TV shows intensifies self-pampering. People who have been saturated in such shallowness aren’t going to immerse themselves in life, especially in someone else’s life, with its tides and turbulence, its summons to stand up, stand for, and stand with. Self-pampering fosters sloth. It is called deadly, obviously, because it’s a breeding ground for trivia. People who detach themselves from life with all of life’s tides and turbulence; people who want no part of challenge and struggle; these people invariably have large tracts of time on their hands. What do they do with vast stretches of unfilled time? They fill them up with trivia. They watch TV by the hour. They sleep. They become self-absorbed. Their self-absorption can appear harmless it can appear eccentric In any case the self-absorption is selfish, even when it appears virtuous. What else can be said of the 50-year old woman who spends three hours per day shaping her body? We won’t say “She has a remarkable body.” We won’t say it because the truth is, her remarkable body has been gained at the price of shriveled heart and mind and spirit. Where sloth abounds, time fills up with trivia as surely as motionless water fills up with algae. People are driven on a route Trivial Pursuit. Sloth is deadly, in that it withers human relationships. To step aside from life is necessarily to step aside from people. It’s to step aside from people to whom our help can mean the world; it’s to step aside from people who can mean the world to us. How many times in scripture are we told that the person we help renders us “Christ” to that person, as it were, while the person whom we allow to help us renders her the mirror-image of Christ to us? Of course other people are inconvenient. Then was Jean Paul Sartre correct when he wrote “Hell is other people”? Other people can be hellish; they can as readily be heavenly. Their arms embracing us, our arms embracing them, can as readily be those “everlasting arms” that are always and everywhere “underneath” us, even as the everlasting arms of God are most readily recognized in the arms of his human servants. If we detach ourselves from life we attempt to be entirely self-sufficient. No one can be, of course; but the desire for self-sufficiency and the attempt at it means that are trying to live in an ever-shrinking universe. Sloth is deadly just because it deadens. Sloth is deadly, in that it’s so very subtle. It’s like a hot cedar tub. Hot tubs can be enjoyable, even helpful -- if we need a hassle-free “time-out”. But there’s something wrong with the person who wants a “time-out” that goes on and on and on. Everyone knows what can happen in a hot tub. We luxuriate in the water. After a while it starts to feel cool (even though the water temperature hasn’t changed.) We make the water a little warmer. The process is repeated, several times over. Next morning the newspaper carries our obituary, and readers are told that our heart stopped beating. Sloth is just like this. Jesus calls men and women to be disciples. They respond with an initial surge of enthusiasm. Then the onerous aspect of discipleship’s collision with a hostile world, added to the normal wear-and-tear of life, gets them down. Easter morning finds Peter speaking for the rest: “What’s the point of it all? We did our best and it all boiled dry. Let’s go back to fishing.” Peter and his friends have plainly gone to the cave. Whereupon the risen Lord appears before them and pulls them out of the cave as he enlarges their faith and lends them resilience. Once more they step ahead in the task he has given them. As enlarged faith and greater faithfulness overturn our sloth we are going to find ourselves viewed as odd. A society bent on ease and drowsiness and self-gratification can’t understand why anyone would ever step out in a commitment that doesn’t promote ease and drowsiness and self-gratification. Still, we who are Christ’s people march to the beat of a different drummer. In the city of Lystra Paul was treated roughly. He didn’t take refuge in sloth, however, mumbling that he’d never return, never put himself out again for ungrateful people. Instead he said quietly to the Christians at Lystra, “It is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God .” When we are called to take the stand that will always be unpopular; when we are summoned to make the sacrifice for the person who will never thank us; when we are called to do what’s right in an environment that rewards two-faced palm-greasers – in all these situations others are going to tell us we’re foolhardy. We, however, are going to be sustained by our vision of what’s right, as well as by a courage that rises in proportion to our vision. Vision and courage will reinforce each other. The temptation of sloth will recede. There are always people we must care for, even as there is evil we must resist, truth we must uphold, and a Lord whom we must obey. He, after all, has promised never to fail us or forsake us.
Lord Jesus, deliver us from slothfulness.
In Him,
Brown
click to view video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGR944fq-Yg
Dysfunctional Greeting Cards
I always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. And now that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) - I've changed my mind.
As the days go by, I think how lucky I am....
(Inside card) - That you're not here to ruin it for me.
Congratulations on your promotion. Before you go....
(Inside card) - Will you take the knife from my back? You'll probably need it again.
Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) - Someone other than you.
Happy Birthday! You look great for your age....
(Inside card) - Almost lifelike!
When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card! ) - Now we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.
We've been friends for a very long time...
(Inside card) - What do you say we stop?
I'm so miserable without you...
(Inside card) - It's almost like you're still here.
You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and there was only one life jacket...
(Inside card) - I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.
Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!
(Available only in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas)
Looking back over the years we've been together, I can't help but wonder...!
(Inside card) - What was I thinking?
Congratulations on your wedding day!...
(Inside card) - Too bad no one likes your husband!
In my former life, I, worked in the Psychiatric hospital settings I remember people complain to me that life has cheated them, because they aren’t having a good time 24 hours per day without interruption.We all know, advertising has fostered utterly unrealistic expectations in people. Advertising has led people to believe that life is, or can be, or at least is meant to be, something like an endless beach holiday in the Bahamas : uninterrupted pleasure, no demands, no setbacks, no grief, everyone dancing and skipping in the company of “winners” with gorgeous bodies and fashionable clothes, no frustration or anxiety or pain. The problem, is that no one’s life is like this, and no one’s is ever going to be, even though too many people have been led to believe that what’s advertised is normal. To expect all this is to want sloth. The banality of many TV shows intensifies self-pampering. People who have been saturated in such shallowness aren’t going to immerse themselves in life, especially in someone else’s life, with its tides and turbulence, its summons to stand up, stand for, and stand with. Self-pampering fosters sloth. It is called deadly, obviously, because it’s a breeding ground for trivia. People who detach themselves from life with all of life’s tides and turbulence; people who want no part of challenge and struggle; these people invariably have large tracts of time on their hands. What do they do with vast stretches of unfilled time? They fill them up with trivia. They watch TV by the hour. They sleep. They become self-absorbed. Their self-absorption can appear harmless it can appear eccentric In any case the self-absorption is selfish, even when it appears virtuous. What else can be said of the 50-year old woman who spends three hours per day shaping her body? We won’t say “She has a remarkable body.” We won’t say it because the truth is, her remarkable body has been gained at the price of shriveled heart and mind and spirit. Where sloth abounds, time fills up with trivia as surely as motionless water fills up with algae. People are driven on a route Trivial Pursuit. Sloth is deadly, in that it withers human relationships. To step aside from life is necessarily to step aside from people. It’s to step aside from people to whom our help can mean the world; it’s to step aside from people who can mean the world to us. How many times in scripture are we told that the person we help renders us “Christ” to that person, as it were, while the person whom we allow to help us renders her the mirror-image of Christ to us? Of course other people are inconvenient. Then was Jean Paul Sartre correct when he wrote “Hell is other people”? Other people can be hellish; they can as readily be heavenly. Their arms embracing us, our arms embracing them, can as readily be those “everlasting arms” that are always and everywhere “underneath” us, even as the everlasting arms of God are most readily recognized in the arms of his human servants. If we detach ourselves from life we attempt to be entirely self-sufficient. No one can be, of course; but the desire for self-sufficiency and the attempt at it means that are trying to live in an ever-shrinking universe. Sloth is deadly just because it deadens. Sloth is deadly, in that it’s so very subtle. It’s like a hot cedar tub. Hot tubs can be enjoyable, even helpful -- if we need a hassle-free “time-out”. But there’s something wrong with the person who wants a “time-out” that goes on and on and on. Everyone knows what can happen in a hot tub. We luxuriate in the water. After a while it starts to feel cool (even though the water temperature hasn’t changed.) We make the water a little warmer. The process is repeated, several times over. Next morning the newspaper carries our obituary, and readers are told that our heart stopped beating. Sloth is just like this. Jesus calls men and women to be disciples. They respond with an initial surge of enthusiasm. Then the onerous aspect of discipleship’s collision with a hostile world, added to the normal wear-and-tear of life, gets them down. Easter morning finds Peter speaking for the rest: “What’s the point of it all? We did our best and it all boiled dry. Let’s go back to fishing.” Peter and his friends have plainly gone to the cave. Whereupon the risen Lord appears before them and pulls them out of the cave as he enlarges their faith and lends them resilience. Once more they step ahead in the task he has given them. As enlarged faith and greater faithfulness overturn our sloth we are going to find ourselves viewed as odd. A society bent on ease and drowsiness and self-gratification can’t understand why anyone would ever step out in a commitment that doesn’t promote ease and drowsiness and self-gratification. Still, we who are Christ’s people march to the beat of a different drummer. In the city of Lystra Paul was treated roughly. He didn’t take refuge in sloth, however, mumbling that he’d never return, never put himself out again for ungrateful people. Instead he said quietly to the Christians at Lystra, “It is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God .” When we are called to take the stand that will always be unpopular; when we are summoned to make the sacrifice for the person who will never thank us; when we are called to do what’s right in an environment that rewards two-faced palm-greasers – in all these situations others are going to tell us we’re foolhardy. We, however, are going to be sustained by our vision of what’s right, as well as by a courage that rises in proportion to our vision. Vision and courage will reinforce each other. The temptation of sloth will recede. There are always people we must care for, even as there is evil we must resist, truth we must uphold, and a Lord whom we must obey. He, after all, has promised never to fail us or forsake us.
Lord Jesus, deliver us from slothfulness.
In Him,
Brown
click to view video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGR944fq-Yg
Dysfunctional Greeting Cards
I always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. And now that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) - I've changed my mind.
As the days go by, I think how lucky I am....
(Inside card) - That you're not here to ruin it for me.
Congratulations on your promotion. Before you go....
(Inside card) - Will you take the knife from my back? You'll probably need it again.
Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) - Someone other than you.
Happy Birthday! You look great for your age....
(Inside card) - Almost lifelike!
When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card! ) - Now we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.
We've been friends for a very long time...
(Inside card) - What do you say we stop?
I'm so miserable without you...
(Inside card) - It's almost like you're still here.
You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and there was only one life jacket...
(Inside card) - I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.
Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!
(Available only in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas)
Looking back over the years we've been together, I can't help but wonder...!
(Inside card) - What was I thinking?
Congratulations on your wedding day!...
(Inside card) - Too bad no one likes your husband!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 2-6-08
Good Morning,
Today is Ash Wednesday in Church Calendar. The season of Lent begins today. It is a season of soul-searching and repentance, a season for reflection and taking stock of our lives. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. It is a season of self denial, sacrifice, obedience and dedicated discipleship. We will look today at one of the Seven deadly sins, the sin of gluttony.
Gluttony is defined as “the habit or act of eating too much, an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.” The second part of this definition includes things other than food. The opposite of gluttony of temperance. Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. The chief error about gluttony is to think it only pertains to food. Some people cannot have enough toys, television, or entertainment. We tend to call over-consumption of these things an “addiction” rather than gluttony. You may not have an issue with gluttony pertaining to food, but may have an issue with one of the other forms of glutton.
Solomon said in Proverbs 23:2, “Put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite.” The advice that Solomon gives is very clear - do not overeat. Use wisdom, restraint, and discipline in eating and practice temperance – know when to stop. Again, this applies to every area of our lives.
Do you remember the situation with the Israelites concerning the manna that God provided them as recorded in Exodus 16:16-20? Do you recall when they were in the wilderness and God fed them with the bread from heaven (manna) and gave them explicit directions as to how much to gather? Exodus 16:16-20, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer a piece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent…..'(vs. 20), but they did not listen to Moses and some left part of it until the morning and it bred worms and became foul and Moses was angry with them.”
They had been give very detailed instructions as to how much they should gather of the manna for each individual of their household. They were only supposed to gather enough for that day and no more. Obviously some of the people did not trust that they would have more manna for the next day so they kept some. That which they kept bred worms and stank up the camp, which made Moses very angry. Here the manna was provided as food for the entire day – but some gluttons (or a case could be made for greed or insecurity) kept some extra “just in case” to ensure they would have the benefit of enjoying it again. They enjoyed it so much that they defied the guidelines that God had given them.
In “The Screwtape Letters” C.S. Lewis describes “delicacy as a desire to have things exactly our way”. He gives the example of food having to be prepared just right, or in just the right amount. When the food was not just right, the “so called” Christian could easily be led into sin without even realizing it. But it isn’t limited to food. We might complain about unimportant defects in a product, the temperature in the room, or the color of a laundry basket. There is a certain amount of discomfort to be expected in life, but the Glutton will have none of it. Instead of becoming strong by suffering the minor inconveniences of life, the Glutton insists on being pampered. Gluttons will not be inconvenienced at any time in their lives. No one dares to point out how petty or foolish they are. In fact, some celebrities are praised for their excessive perfectionism, as though it were a virtue.
In the book of numbers we find another example of gluttony, but with a different twist. Turn to Numbers 11:18-24. Numbers 11:18-20, “So say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, ‘Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well off in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the lord who is among you and have wept before Him saying ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
This is a classic example of Gluttony. This is what the Children of Israel did to God. He had been giving them manna to eat – daily – and they grew tired of it. They wanted some meat. What they actually told God was that the food He provided from heaven (there was nothing like manna on the earth before this time or since) was not good enough – they wanted meat. God’s response was that He gave them meat, but with the meat would come the plague for their ungratefulness. When you read the rest of the chapter you see when He sent the meat, as they were still eating it, He sent a plague among them.
The cure for Gluttony lies in deliberately reducing our use of pleasurable things, not in eliminating them. May Christ have mercy on us.
St. Augustine who says it best, "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." We are not alone. We are not alone in our greed, our gluttony, or our lust (or our pride, envy, anger, or sloth, for that matter). We need Christ, and to know that Christ is the one above all else who satisfies our deepest hungers and longings.
It should be our prayer that God would give to us a passion for Christ that is stronger than every other passion, a passion for Christ that puts all those misplaced, limitless, unfocused, chaotic passions for what is good, in order in our souls.
When Christ becomes for us "the bread of life," when we hunger and thirst for such righteousness, then God places us on a road and a path in life in which we will find more satisfaction and fulfillment and joy than on any other path we can find.
Deadly sins, that leave us empty –– but Jesus Christ came, and comes, to give us lives that are filled and fulfilled.
"Lord Most High, you know the depth of our hunger, our hunger for meaning and purpose and for value and for joy and happiness and pleasure. We pray that in seeking you we might find you and find more of these things than we ever dreamed possible. Where we are weak –– strengthen us; where we are strong –– humble us before your mighty throne, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen "
In Jesus,
Brown
"Our lusts are cords that bind us. Fiery trials are sent to burn and consume them. Who fears the flame which will bring him liberty from intolerable bonds? "
Charles Spurgeon "
"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." William Carey
"It is vanity to mind only this present life, and not to make provision for those things which are to come." Thomas a Kempis
" Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. " C.S. Lewis
"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean. " G. K. Chesterton
"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. "
William James
Today is Ash Wednesday in Church Calendar. The season of Lent begins today. It is a season of soul-searching and repentance, a season for reflection and taking stock of our lives. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. It is a season of self denial, sacrifice, obedience and dedicated discipleship. We will look today at one of the Seven deadly sins, the sin of gluttony.
Gluttony is defined as “the habit or act of eating too much, an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.” The second part of this definition includes things other than food. The opposite of gluttony of temperance. Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. The chief error about gluttony is to think it only pertains to food. Some people cannot have enough toys, television, or entertainment. We tend to call over-consumption of these things an “addiction” rather than gluttony. You may not have an issue with gluttony pertaining to food, but may have an issue with one of the other forms of glutton.
Solomon said in Proverbs 23:2, “Put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite.” The advice that Solomon gives is very clear - do not overeat. Use wisdom, restraint, and discipline in eating and practice temperance – know when to stop. Again, this applies to every area of our lives.
Do you remember the situation with the Israelites concerning the manna that God provided them as recorded in Exodus 16:16-20? Do you recall when they were in the wilderness and God fed them with the bread from heaven (manna) and gave them explicit directions as to how much to gather? Exodus 16:16-20, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer a piece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent…..'(vs. 20), but they did not listen to Moses and some left part of it until the morning and it bred worms and became foul and Moses was angry with them.”
They had been give very detailed instructions as to how much they should gather of the manna for each individual of their household. They were only supposed to gather enough for that day and no more. Obviously some of the people did not trust that they would have more manna for the next day so they kept some. That which they kept bred worms and stank up the camp, which made Moses very angry. Here the manna was provided as food for the entire day – but some gluttons (or a case could be made for greed or insecurity) kept some extra “just in case” to ensure they would have the benefit of enjoying it again. They enjoyed it so much that they defied the guidelines that God had given them.
In “The Screwtape Letters” C.S. Lewis describes “delicacy as a desire to have things exactly our way”. He gives the example of food having to be prepared just right, or in just the right amount. When the food was not just right, the “so called” Christian could easily be led into sin without even realizing it. But it isn’t limited to food. We might complain about unimportant defects in a product, the temperature in the room, or the color of a laundry basket. There is a certain amount of discomfort to be expected in life, but the Glutton will have none of it. Instead of becoming strong by suffering the minor inconveniences of life, the Glutton insists on being pampered. Gluttons will not be inconvenienced at any time in their lives. No one dares to point out how petty or foolish they are. In fact, some celebrities are praised for their excessive perfectionism, as though it were a virtue.
In the book of numbers we find another example of gluttony, but with a different twist. Turn to Numbers 11:18-24. Numbers 11:18-20, “So say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, ‘Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well off in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the lord who is among you and have wept before Him saying ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
This is a classic example of Gluttony. This is what the Children of Israel did to God. He had been giving them manna to eat – daily – and they grew tired of it. They wanted some meat. What they actually told God was that the food He provided from heaven (there was nothing like manna on the earth before this time or since) was not good enough – they wanted meat. God’s response was that He gave them meat, but with the meat would come the plague for their ungratefulness. When you read the rest of the chapter you see when He sent the meat, as they were still eating it, He sent a plague among them.
The cure for Gluttony lies in deliberately reducing our use of pleasurable things, not in eliminating them. May Christ have mercy on us.
St. Augustine who says it best, "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." We are not alone. We are not alone in our greed, our gluttony, or our lust (or our pride, envy, anger, or sloth, for that matter). We need Christ, and to know that Christ is the one above all else who satisfies our deepest hungers and longings.
It should be our prayer that God would give to us a passion for Christ that is stronger than every other passion, a passion for Christ that puts all those misplaced, limitless, unfocused, chaotic passions for what is good, in order in our souls.
When Christ becomes for us "the bread of life," when we hunger and thirst for such righteousness, then God places us on a road and a path in life in which we will find more satisfaction and fulfillment and joy than on any other path we can find.
Deadly sins, that leave us empty –– but Jesus Christ came, and comes, to give us lives that are filled and fulfilled.
"Lord Most High, you know the depth of our hunger, our hunger for meaning and purpose and for value and for joy and happiness and pleasure. We pray that in seeking you we might find you and find more of these things than we ever dreamed possible. Where we are weak –– strengthen us; where we are strong –– humble us before your mighty throne, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen "
In Jesus,
Brown
"Our lusts are cords that bind us. Fiery trials are sent to burn and consume them. Who fears the flame which will bring him liberty from intolerable bonds? "
Charles Spurgeon "
"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." William Carey
"It is vanity to mind only this present life, and not to make provision for those things which are to come." Thomas a Kempis
" Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. " C.S. Lewis
"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean. " G. K. Chesterton
"The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. "
William James
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