I just read a really great Bible Girl column, written by guest writer Jared Binder, about the Christian church’s acceptance of gluttony, and its resultant obesity.

There’s this thing in the Bible called gluttony. The Bible says it’s a sin. But we don’t like to talk about that particular sin. We prefer to point a pudgy finger at others and decry the evils of drugs and alcohol, pornography, abortion and homosexuality. Compared to those, gluttony is just a little sin.

How timely. I have been having many of these same thoughts myself lately, but was not yet ready to share them.

I have been overweight most of my life and really struggled with it, off and on, since I was in college. It was the summer after my freshman year that it really hit me how fat I had gotten and I started doing something about it.

Thus began what has been a now 13-year-long pattern of dramatic weight gain and loss cycles.

In the first four years that I was married (2002-2006), I gained 46 pounds! I wish I could blame it on the fact that I had my third child, but I actually lost all of the weight I gained during pregnancy before putting on 33 more pounds.

Then, thanks to viewing some really bad pictures of myself, I lost about 20 in the past year.

The change came from making small dietary changes - re-learning how to eat, with healthy foods and smaller portions.

That only took me so far, though, before I hit a roadblock. Since then, I have been trying to figure out why.

Upon careful examination of my eating habits, I realized that when I am stressed out, I tend to go into the kitchen and grab something to eat. Even though most of my food choices are healthy, one can still overeat on healthy foods - and gain weight.

Then one day recently, it dawned on me that I go to God with other temptations that I struggle with, so why not this?

Last November, I attended a Living Free in Christ conference with Dr. Neil Anderson. It was absolutely the most amazing experience. I was able to find freedom from another sin that I have struggled with almost my entire life. Satan had a stronghold over my life that was influencing my thoughts to the point that it was almost torture and I learned how to find freedom in Christ and have remained free ever since. (Which requires diligent control over my thought life, I must add, and prayer. It is not a quick, one-time fix.)

Until I read this Bible Girl column, I could not figure out why it took me so long to realize that I could also find freedom in Christ from the sin of gluttony and, most importantly, that I would not be able to break free from that stronghold without His help, especially since it is such a lifelong habit.

The reason is that the Christian community turns a blind eye to this sin.

We, as Christians, are quick to identify when one is turning to other comforts instead of to God. Drugs, alcohol, sex, materialism, work, busyness, and other distractions and coping mechanisms that we substitute for God are all the subjects of countless sermons and books, but not gluttony.

Yet it is just as dangerous to our health, both physically and spiritually. It serves as a wedge between us and God; something that keeps us from fully depending on Him and Him alone in our times of need.

I’m glad to see this issue brought up. I think more people would find comfort in knowing that they can take this struggle to the cross and break free from the hold that food has over them.