Are gluttony examples evident in your church or youth group? Is that sin even on your radar as a youth leader? Read on for insights about this often-overlooked transgression.
Overindulging is a sin, but we rarely take it seriously. For example, at a ministry event I was eating way too much pizza. The guy next to me turned and said, “I eat like a glutton only at youth group activities.”
That stuck in my head, because it’s completely true. If I ever eat six slices of pizza, or eat five donuts, or go back for a seventh bowl of chili…
… it definitely means I’m at a church function. And that’s not a good thing.
Are We Gluttony Examples? (Yes, It’s a Sin.)
Are we tacitly encouraging the sin of gluttony during youth group? I remember a youth group New Year’s Eve party. We had enough leftover budget money to make it a good party. Students ate candy, drank soda, and stuffed chips in their faces. And we had way too much pizza.
I remember a chili cookoff where I challenged a student to a chili eat-off. When I was a teenager, I remember my own youth pastor engaging me in a Mountain Dew chugging contest.
(Sidenote: If you provide Mountain Dew to kids, you forfeit the right to complain about how they won’t calm down for your message.)
In fact, I think I’m more likely to eat sensibly at Thanksgiving or a Memorial Day barbecue than I am at a church event with free food. What’s up with that?
What happens when we offer gluttony examples at youth group? Well, we encourage sin and undermine any teaching we might want to do about it later. Plus, we may set students up with unhealthy habits that could hurt their health down the road. Diabetes, obesity, cavities. You already know the host of health conditions directly related to poor dietary habits.
