Gluttony Part III

In the first part of our trip through gluttony, I focused on two passages from Proverbs. Today is our final edition of the Proverbs gluttony file. You can click below for the first two sections:

Part I
Part II

As for the final section of our current study, we turn to Proverbs 23:20-21.
²⁰ Do not join those who drink too much wine
       or gorge themselves on meat,
 ²¹ for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
       and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

While gluttony itself can mean more than just overeating, but rather any indulgence, this passage makes it pretty clear that the writer is talking about overeating. So we look at this and see what the passage suggests:

1.  Gluttony results in becoming poor. It's no stretch to believe that an alcoholic can and probably will ruin his finances. Beer and liquor costs money. But can you waste money with gluttony? Yep! I've never done the exact figures, because I still live in denial, but I figure that I spend at least $30-$40 a month on soda alone. And we're trying to save for a new family car right now! What a waste... I'm not saying that eating healthy isn't expensive as well, but we're talking about wasting, and gluttony is wasting. My soda-drinking habits are just part of that overall trend in my life.

2.  Drowsiness clothes them in rags...Being full all the time makes one sleepy, especially in the afternoon. Like a food-induced coma, the overeater becomes lazy and unproductive. Unproductive people don't keep jobs, or don't advance in them. In the Biblical times, that equaled living in rags. That might be a little different for us in our day, but not much philosophically.

3.  Matthew Henry says: "It is really a shame to make a god of the belly." That is exactly what we do with food, unless one eats because he has made food his god. Either way, it is a shameful act.

We must fight against the act of gluttony. Correction...I must fight against the act of gluttony. I must go back to the true God every time the desire to fall comes, just as I might to fight against lust, cheating, lying, etc.

What does this passage mean to you?