THE PURPOSE OF FOOD
Acts 27:33-34
Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food -- you haven't eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head."
In today's passage, Paul makes a comment about food, "Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive." Somehow we Americans have moved away from Paul's perspective of eating food for its nutritional and sustenance value to simply consuming food for entertainment purposes. This got me to thinking about what God says about food: What we should eat and why. There have been a number of good books written over the years related to Biblical principles of diet and nutrition, but one in particular caught my attention, Rex Russell's book titled "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living." Russell offers three basic principles for healthy living:
1. Only eat food God made to be eaten. A lot of animals (fish and fowl included) are scavengers. As a result their bodies can contain all kinds of toxins that may or may not make us sick in the short term, but over a lifetime probably lead to various diseases.
2. Eat food the way God made it. Eat unprocessed foods, without all the sugar, additives and preservatives. You probably already know it is better to eat an apple rather than an apple flavored fruit roll-up, whole grain bread rather than white bread, or steak rather than hot dogs. Basically, eat like your grandparents did when they were kids -- fresh grown fruits and vegetables without pesticides, water rather than four caffeinated beverages each day, and meat as more of a special occasion meal rather than the norm.
3. Don't let any food or drink become your god. Fasting is beneficial for many reasons. One of which is to prove to yourself that no food or drink has quietly turned into an addiction.
My point in offering this information to you today is simply -- God, the one who created us and intricately designed our bodies, must have also designed the foods that would make us the healthiest as well as look and feel the best. Scripture points to them in Genesis 1:29 (plant foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds) and Leviticus 11 (certain meat, poultry and fish). Perhaps it would be wise for each of us to pay attention to what the One who created us says about what we should eat.
I'm not 100% certain of why I'm on this topic of food today but it's probably because my wife recently dragged me to the doctor recently for a physical, only to find out I have extraordinarily high cholesterol and triglyceride levels. I won't profess to know exactly what that implies (my wife says it means we're going to change my diet and exercise regime -- right now); what I do know is I will turn to the Bible to first listen to what God says about my problem. From a spiritual perspective, most people (myself included) struggle with food idolatry: putting food and food choices in front of our relationship with God. That's what my eating struggles are all about. For example, someone who can't imagine living without ______ (fill in the blank -- Starbucks, chocolate, ice cream, etc), and it's painful to even think about giving it up, might want to do a little self-analysis. Take a moment right now and prayerfully consider your personal food idolatry. Will you place God first?
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