Is it a sin to waste food?
When I was a kid, I was cautioned to eat all the food on my plate…because there were starving children in Armenia! Or maybe it was Africa. All I remember is that others would be most grateful for what I had so I should be thankful too and eat it. Well, truthfully I also remember making occasional snide remarks like, “Go ahead, send it to THEM!”
Actually, if not a sin, wasting food might be a CRIME. Seattle is fining citizens who throw food in the garbage. They’re trying to encourage composting and reduce greenhouse gasses. But their “public education” campaign to mark trash cans with “Scarlet Letter” notices so neighbors can see who is composting and who is not seems a bit like a sin smear. Yikes.
Waste poses both environmental and economic problems and maybe is morally reprehensible. But is waste a sin?
Dante’s Divine Comedy considered seven ‘deadly’ sins, including:
Gluttony — Wasting food through eating too much, turning away food due to preference, or not giving food to the needy. (Mom was right!)
Greed — Always wanting more while discarding other things.
Sloth — Laziness wastes the one resource we cannot renew, time! Sloth may also be complacency of our spiritual desires, neglecting to “love God with all one’s heart, all one’s mind, and all one’s soul.”
Pride – Pride is the sin that puts MY WANTS above OTHER’S NEEDS and even above God. Pride wastes everything that matters most in the pursuit of that which matters least.
Jesus taught that all sin is on the same level; cursing a brother is likened to murder, lusting is likened to adultery. He did specifically address the waste of food once, commanding his disciples after the miracle of feeding the 5,000.
“Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” John 6:12
I think God hates waste. Consider all his warnings about:
Wasted wealth – Proverbs 29:3
Wasted possessions – Luke 16:1
Wasted treasures – James 5:1-6
Wasted life – 1 Peter 4:3-5
Wasted faith – Jonah 2:8
Wasted time – John 12:35-36; Ephesians 5:16
Wasted talents – Matthew 25:14-30
Wasted opportunities – Galatians 6:10; Colossians 4:5
I don’t think God would put scarlet letters on garbage cans so we can all see who is ‘sinning.’ I don’t think he’s keeping tabs of every morsel of food that goes to your trashcan – or compost. So what does God want?
God wants us to act with justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him. (Micah 6:8)
He wants us to honor him in everything we say and do. (Colossians 3:17)
Above all, he wants us to have pure hearts. (Matthew 5:8)
I don’t know that we need to fall to our knees in confession every time we throw away a scrap of food, let water run down the drain, or sit idly. But let’s aim higher today to keep our hearts pure and not waste the life and treasures He has given us!
“How blessed are those who are pure in heart, because it is they who will see God!” – Jesus in Matthew 5:8