Gluttony: Good morning sir, how are you today?
Me: I'm very well, thank you, but to whom am I speaking?
Gluttony: We've met before. It's just that you always turn your back on me!
Me: I'm a Christian! I certainly wouldn't do that!
Gluttony: Christians are the worst you know. They're always the first to deny me. James tells us that we are to treat everybody the same without regard, but you, my friend, stick up your nose and totally ignore me! It seems that you don 't think I'm good enough to be recognized.
Me: My apologies, if you think that, but I assure you that I'm not a respecter of persons. I just don't know you!
Gluttony: That's called "Denial". He's not a friend of mine, but I see that you and he have been good friends for years!
Me: I don't know anyone named "Denial" either. Are you playing mind games with me?
Gluttony: No sir! I see you with Denial quite often and as you approach me, Denial points toward others to distract you. It seems that Denial uses slight-of-hand and trickery to keep you best friends with Pleasure, Indulgence and Immediacy.
Me: Those are my secret friends, but I I like Obedience, Sacrifice and Resolution as well! It's just that people don't understand my friendship with Pleasure, Indulgence and Immediacy; so we do things in private just so others will mind their own business!
Gluttony: You just think that it's in secret. True, Denial helps you to keep others from being your friend.
Me: What are you talking about? It's others who're judging me and that's wrong! People should accept me as I am and quit looking for my faults. They're a bunch of hypocrites if they judge me!
Gluttony: You're right about others, but how do you judge yourself? Quit using others failures as your excuse!
Me: Well, others are no better than I am!
Gluttony: They know Denial too, but having a mutual friend doesn't help your situation any. They can look at you and tell just how important Sacrifice is in your life.
Me: How so?
Gluttony: You're red-faced, out of breath and overweight. Your appearance reveals your secret. Denial can never cover for you for you give yourself away.
Me: So what if I do know you Gluttony? That's not wrong is it?
Gluttony: Knowing me is good! It's a first step to knowing Insight. Although Insight and I don't get along well, I must admit that if you don't accept Insight, I have no chance of you recognizing me as a friend.
Me: I guess I really do know you, but you are a big guy and I'm ashamed to be seen with you. Everybody likes Pleasure and Indulgence, but you're so... so...
Gluttony: Undesirable and ugly?
Me: I didn't want to say that, but you aren't very attractive.
Gluttony: Yes, I know that, but I'm like family to you. You were raised with me, yet there was always something separating us. It hurt that you would see me every day, but would never look me in the eye!
Me: I just have other friends to worry about. I pray that I run with the right crowd. I try to flee when I see Theft, Hate, Envy, Strife, and even Lust. I've given up so many friends because I have a changed heart!
Gluttony: I don't want to be your friend anymore. I just want you to love me or leave me too! It hurts more to be a friend whom you deny more than it does being a past friend. We just need to be honest with each other!
Me: I listen to God and read his Word all the time. He helped me to recognize that Hate, Envy, Strife and that gang are bad, but you Gluttony, he failed to mention! You're not s important as you think you are.
Gluttony: Now, that hurts. God does mention me though. Maybe you missed that part because Denial made those Bible pages blank for you.
Me: How does he do that?
Gluttony: Denial is a secret friend of Satan. He wants you to fail God in all ways. If he can get you to accept your shortcomings in one area of your life, he's on the way to defeating you in others. Aren't you more afraid of me on the inside than you are of even Theft? You would never think of stealing, but you befriend me every day! It's as if I'm your worst enemy, but you live with me anyhow. I'm like a monkey on your back.
Me: (As Denial steps aside): I like you, and just where does God say that you are wrong for me?
Gluttony: Well Moses wrote of it long ago: He said: Deuteronomy 21:20 "And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard."
Me: That was a long time ago! Times change.
Gluttony: Not with God. He's unchanging! It's mentioned again with derision several places in the New Testament too!
Me: What I do and how I look are my own business!
Gluttony: You must have missed that part too! Denial stays busy covering up for Lies. Here's what Truth says: 1 Corinthians 6:19 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
Me: I read that part, but I guess I just didn't think about that. It just seems so abstract.
Gluttony: No, it's really important. When the Hebrews built God a temple in which to live it was the finest cedars of Lebanon covered with pure Gold. It's was a sight to behold! Now, look at how his temple has deteriorated so! I know that your heart is right inside, but that temple sure is in a state of disrepair! How can others look at you and tell that God lives in you?
Me: Is that important?
Gluttony: You are to be an example for others. Paul said: 1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Yes, you are to be an example! You can't just pick and choose. With God you must be a complete package!
Me: But overeating is the least of my worries. I still hang out with Lust and Hate some. I worry more about those!
Gluttony: It's true that overeating won't damn you, but it's still God's will: Matthew 5:19 "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." It seems that there are degrees to the rewards we'll receive in heaven. Go for them all! That's God's will for you.
Me: But I can't do it on my own!
Gluttony: That's why God left us his Spirit. He's to comfort us in our trials and help us with our daily living. It's by listening to the Holy Spirit that we are righteous. Proverbs 25:28 (ESV) "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." See, there's that unfit temple again. You're like a broken city. Your failure to control your own desires tears down the walls and exposes what is in disrepair inside.
Me: Wow! I never thought about that!
Gluttony: You're not alone. Everybody struggles with something and God doesn't pick on you. He just wants to steer you toward what's good for you and what pleases him! 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
Me: You mean that I don't have to do it myself?
Gluttony: Nope! God is faithful if you have faith yourself; even faith as small as a grain of mustard seed. You can move mighty mountains if only your faith is strong enough. Of course you need to pray for God's will.
Me: (as Denial slips off stage): What's God will for me?
Gluttony: His will is that you won't be defeated with this sin!
Me: Sin? I didn't know that we're talking about him!
Gluttony: Denial has done his job well! Overeating is wrong in God's eyes. You see that by doing so you are living for your friend Pleasure. You are putting him before Sacrifice. Your body is to be a Living Sacrifice. we're told by God. When sacrificing to God, it must be a perfect sacrifice. He doesn't want a blemished lamb, but a healthy one. God wants the firstlings of the flock, not the what would be rejected as unfit.
Me: I feel so humiliated. I thought God loves me just the way I am!
Gluttony: He loves you, yes he does! He loves you so much that he wants to take care of you. You are destroying what God created and he's not happy with you. He loves you so much that he'll help you control Pleasure; to put him in his place.
Me: But with Pleasure aside, who will befriend me?
Gluttony: Joy and Peace shall be your friends. They love the obese as well, but they know that a pleasing building is a good place to live while a falling building is chaos.
Me: Gluttony. I'm sorry that Denial betrayed you. I don't want to be your friend, but I do appreciate your friendship with Truth and Honesty. I have a plan now, thanks to you!
Gluttony: And that plan is to...?
Me: You can go the way of those who are trying to self destruct. Truth has befriended me now. He says Philippians 3:19 (ESV) "Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." I guess I can now teach you a few things since Denial has left me for good!
Gluttony: I love food, but I do accept Truth.
Me: The Truth is your enemy Mr, Gluttony. Truth has set me free!
Gluttony: I don't care if I'm all alone just so people recognize me as much as Theft, Lust, Lies and Envy. I just want people to consider me as a friend. It hurts to live with somebody all the time and just be ignored!
Me: I'll never ignore you again. You are important, but unfortunately for you, it's just not in God's will that you be my friend! Since I no longer have a friend named Denial, I'm going to be the friend of Discipline now.
Gluttony: We've been close. What will Discipline do for you that I didn't?
Me: I will exercise without fail nor will I no longer play with Excuse. I will eat moderately and healthy with Nutrition, my new friend! Confidence will assist me as we get to know Healthy who resides with us now. Sin will feel alone, but he will be gone from my life, at least gone with you, Gluttony!
Gluttony: Master will be so unhappy with me. I'm supposed to run with Denial, but thanks to the Word, I am now on bad terms with Sin.
Me: Woe is you, but the Spirit is happy with me because Obedience and I are now close friends; thanks be to God!
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