The Gluttony Nobody Talks About

When we hear the word gluttony, most of us immediately think about food.

We picture someone who continually overeats or refuses to control their appetite.

But what if uncontrolled appetite can reveal itself in other areas of our lives?

We can overindulge in entertainment. We can become consumed with work. We can obsess over exercise, relationships, social media, attention, possessions, or success.

Anything we continually consume without restraint can begin controlling us.

But there is another appetite that can be much harder to recognize because it doesn't always look like indulgence.

The appetite for other people's failures.

Gossip Can Become Something We Consume

Scripture uses fascinating language when describing gossip:

“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”— Proverbs 18:8 (KJV)

There is something about gossip that appeals to the appetite.

Someone says:

“Did you hear what happened?”

Suddenly, we want to know.

What happened?

Who did it?

What did they say?

Who else knows?

And once we have consumed the information, sometimes we immediately begin looking for someone else to share it with.

Hearing it wasn't enough. We want someone else at the table.

That is when gossip begins looking a lot like gluttony.

We aren't hungry for food.

We're hungry for information about somebody else's failure.

Gossip Can Disguise Itself as Concern

Perhaps one reason gossip is so dangerous in the Church is because we have learned how to dress it in spiritual language.

“We need to pray for them.”

“I'm only telling you because I'm concerned.”

“People need to know what's happening.”

“I'm just using discernment.”

Sometimes those statements may be completely sincere.

But we should be willing to examine our hearts.

Did this person actually need to know?

Am I trying to help restore someone—or am I enjoying having information about them?

Would I be saying this if the person were sitting beside me?

Those are uncomfortable questions, but they expose our appetite.

Paul warned about people becoming:

“tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.”— 1 Timothy 5:13 (KJV)

The problem isn't simply that gossip spreads information.

Gossip trains us to feed on what is wrong with people.

What Are You Training Your Eyes to See?

Whatever you continually feed eventually shapes your appetite.

If you constantly consume stories about people's failures, eventually failure becomes what you look for.

Instead of seeing a hurting person, you see a story.

Instead of seeing someone who stumbled, you see information.

Instead of asking:

“How can I help them?”

you begin wondering:

“Who can I tell?”

But Scripture gives us a completely different response when someone falls:

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness…”— Galatians 6:1 (KJV)

Notice the goal.

Restore them.

Spiritual maturity isn't demonstrated by how quickly you can identify someone's weakness.

Sometimes everybody can see the weakness.

Spiritual maturity is demonstrated by what you do once you see it.

Do you expose them unnecessarily?

Do you entertain others with their struggle?

Do you secretly enjoy discovering that they aren't as strong as everyone thought?

Or do you move toward restoration?

Stop Feasting on People

There is a simple question we should ask ourselves:

Do I grieve when someone falls, or does part of me enjoy hearing about it?

Because love and gossip have very different appetites.

Gossip says:

“Tell me more.”

Love says:

“How can I help?”

Gossip collects information.

Love seeks restoration.

Gossip turns someone's weakness into conversation.

Love remembers that behind the story is a human being whom Jesus loves.

We should never become so hungry for information that someone else's pain becomes our entertainment.

Maybe some of us need to fast from something that has nothing to do with food.

Maybe we need to stop consuming rumors.

Stop searching for scandals.

Stop passing along stories that aren't ours to tell.

Stop calling accusation discernment.

And when someone tries to serve us another person's failure, perhaps we simply need to say:

“Have you talked to them?”

Because the Church doesn't need more people sitting around a table feasting on one another's weaknesses.

We need believers who are hungry for something better.

Hungry for truth.

Hungry for mercy.

Hungry for reconciliation.

Hungry for Jesus.

Don't develop an appetite for watching people fall.

Develop an appetite for helping them get back up.

Pastor Scott