Gluttony.

I don't know how many of you guys are religious, but I am and I have recently been thinking about how this whole weight problem of mine falls into my life as a Christian.

With very few exceptions, all people who are overweight have gotten there by their own choices in life. An apple or a cookie, or two, three, or even four cookies. People do not become overweight by only eating what their body needs, they become overweight by eating an excess of calories in comparison to how many calories their body is using to function. It is quite simple, actually.

This style of eating, eating more than you need, is gluttony, pure and simple. As defined by dictionary.com, gluttony is excessive eating and drinking. It comes from the latin word gluttire, which means to gulp down or swallow. It defines exactly what each overweight person has done; gulped down food and drinks in excess.

You may be wondering how this relates to my life as a Christian, but that is also simple. I am living in sin because I am acting out one of the seven deadly sins, gluttony. I am also not honoring God with my body. He has given me this body that is capable of doing absolutely anything, but I have ruined it by overindulging in food.

The thing is, a large portion of Christians are living in sin with this same exact problem. If you walk into your local churches, you will probably find 63% of the congregation overweight, just like the rest of Americans. Even pastors, who are supposed to the leading examples of Christianity have bulging bellies and are overweight or obese. I feel like we are extremely quick to judge those who are alcoholics and accuse them of sin for being gluttonous, yet we, who become drunk off of food don't see ourselves in the same light. We talk about the sin of killing someone, but this sin of gluttony should be deemed even worse for we are simply killing ourselves.

Gluttony is a problem in many of our lives, whether or not you are religious. We wouldn't be this way right now if we hadn't eaten far too much food at some point in our lives. Luckily, we are able to change this. If you are religious, you're even able to change this with the help of God. I encourage you to pray about this. Pray for him to give you the strength to make the choices that are going to honor him and lead you away from the sin of gluttony.

I am definitely going to be praying for this area of my life. I know that God will provide me with the strength to overcome the temptation of sin, the temptation to be gluttonous. I know with having God as a part of my weight loss journey that the journey will be far more successful than it ever could have been on my own.