Kevin Smith, a well known actor/director, was kicked off a Southwest Air flight on Saturday, February 13, 2010 because he didn’t fit comfortably into the airplane seat.  He was too fat to fly.

Jesus says “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23 NKJV) This means that, according to Scripture, all true, actual, practicing, growing, followers of Christ will practice self-denial. Right?

Right. And sometimes that means making difficult choices.

You might never have thought of Him this way, but did you know that Jesus spent more continuous time fighting gluttony than any other sin problem?

We know from the Bible that Jesus left the carpenter shop at the age of 30. His baptism by John the Baptist marked the beginning of his public ministry for the salvation of humanity.

With his public ministry came His experiences overcoming public temptations.

The first item on Jesus’ agenda was to show us that gluttony can be controlled. He was driven to the desert by the Holy Spirit where He prayed and meditated on His up-coming mission. During this time He was without food. Day after day Jesus became more and more hungry.

There was no gluttony in heaven among the angels. There was no gluttony among the created beings in millions of inhabited worlds. Gluttony is selfishly and harmfully eating more than you need for a balanced meal.

The owner of The Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona is suing in federal court the owners of the Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Delray Beach, Florida for copying his ideas for a heart-attack stimulating menu with unhealthy, cholesterol-raising fare.

This lawsuit has called attention to a weird, bizarre and shameful aspect of the American palate. As a nutritionist and health educator I am shocked and ashamed that anyone would offer this kind of food foolery to the public. 

Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest medieval philosophers, recognized that gluttony involved more than eating too much. He developed a list of other ways in which a person might “abuse” food to the point of gluttony. Here are the different ways in which a person can be gluttonous.

Gluttony is a word that isn’t used very often. Many people don’t know what gluttony means. Gluttony is the attitude, focus, and disposition that lead a person to eat too much food.

The glutton is a person who eats too much at meal time and is often found eating between meals. If the taste buds call, the glutton is quick to answer with a snack.