This is an untangling of sorts. A confession of thoughts from the past year that recently hit home.
Food as a struggle now when it never has been.
I know I’m in the minority with the things I’m about to say below, so raise your eyebrows and move on.
I’ve never struggled with weight, with counting calories, with loving/loathing food. I don’t own a scale and couldn’t tell you what my size is.
I have never had an eating disorder, never felt “guilty” for eating dessert and have never made a resolution to eat better.
I know – with all my “nevers” my pendulum is so far on the other side, my clock isn’t even working properly.
All that said, I’m coming to a place where food is becoming a source of contention; burdensome… Where I feel judged and where I don’t feel joy or enjoyment.
The cares and trials of this world, i.e. the trends, are hitting hard and I’m watching several close to me fall in line with what the world would tell them is good and right.
And it is draining the very joy out of what God tells me to do to his glory.
All too often, the conversations that surround me are about what non-bread tastes most like bread, how your kids shouldn’t have dairy or soy, how caffeine is killing us all and on and on I could go.
We add “free” onto the end of a word as though gluten-free and sugar-free has set this captive free. In reality, it’s only causing us to fall back into slavery.
Think about it. The more boundaries you build, the more fences you erect, the more lines you draw, the less space you have.
The less space there is to run free, to revel and frolic, the more your worship suffers.
Why?
Self-imposed rules never bring joy.
Why?
Because when we rely on culture and ourselves to tell us how to live our life best, we ignore the Creator, Sustainer and Life Giver who truly does know best and for freedom has set us free.
Hear me. Going back to the basics is grand.
Becoming not so reliant on stores can be a good thing.
Personally, I have high hopes of doing many things myself, right off my own land. (Nigerian goats and 10% butterfat anyone?!).
But, if my endeavors cause me to become prideful or judgmental or adopt a “my way is the best way and I can’t BELIEVE you don’t do it…” attitude, then I need to pause.
Reflect.
Realize the idols I have set in my heart and repent so that I might glorify God in all I do rather than myself.
Truth be told, here is where my assurance lies:
When I stand before the Lord, his concern is not whether I gave my kids organic strawberries or not; whether I drank coffee or not even whether I heated up my leftovers in the microwave or oven.
His concern will be for how I lived my life according to HIS will, doing HIS kingdom minded business here on earth.
So for me personally, that means choosing the non-organic strawberries so my financial resources can go further to someone literally dying for a piece of bread – gluten-free or not.
And for me personally, a cup of coffee, leftovers heated up in the microwave, or pizza picked up from the local Italian restaurant can be a form of worship for me, stirring my affections deeply for the Lord.
Those things can make me stop and just praise a God who is so amazingly good.
And that because of his goodness, despite my badness, had His one and only Son bear my sin and shame so that I might have eternity in heaven with Him.
So for encouragement for the weak hearted and the judgmental:
Spend some honest time with the Lord. Read through Romans 13 and 14 and lay your life over those verses.
Ask yourself some hard questions. What boundaries does the Lord give regarding eating? How are we to view other people and the choices they make eating? How do our choices in food and eating reflect the freedom we have if we are found in Christ?
For some of you, there might need to be some change. You might need to take away some things from your daily intake and some of you might need to add some things to your daily intake.
For me, I'll continue pushing back the world I feel so heavily weighing in.
I'll continue to give thanks to a Father who created all the smells and tastes and sights that accompany a good meal and seek him on what I may do best to make much of him - no matter if it is a store bought cupcake, frozen chicken nuggets or homemade enchiladas.
Whether it is this or that - keep in mind it is for his glory and your good. And his grace is unending.
Matthew 15:11 and 18
Hear and understand:
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person,
but what comes out of the mouth...
what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart
and this defiles a person.
Realize the idols I have set in my heart and repent so that I might glorify God in all I do rather than myself.
Truth be told, here is where my assurance lies:
When I stand before the Lord, his concern is not whether I gave my kids organic strawberries or not; whether I drank coffee or not even whether I heated up my leftovers in the microwave or oven.
His concern will be for how I lived my life according to HIS will, doing HIS kingdom minded business here on earth.
So for me personally, that means choosing the non-organic strawberries so my financial resources can go further to someone literally dying for a piece of bread – gluten-free or not.
And for me personally, a cup of coffee, leftovers heated up in the microwave, or pizza picked up from the local Italian restaurant can be a form of worship for me, stirring my affections deeply for the Lord.
Those things can make me stop and just praise a God who is so amazingly good.
And that because of his goodness, despite my badness, had His one and only Son bear my sin and shame so that I might have eternity in heaven with Him.
So for encouragement for the weak hearted and the judgmental:
Spend some honest time with the Lord. Read through Romans 13 and 14 and lay your life over those verses.
Ask yourself some hard questions. What boundaries does the Lord give regarding eating? How are we to view other people and the choices they make eating? How do our choices in food and eating reflect the freedom we have if we are found in Christ?
For some of you, there might need to be some change. You might need to take away some things from your daily intake and some of you might need to add some things to your daily intake.
For me, I'll continue pushing back the world I feel so heavily weighing in.
I'll continue to give thanks to a Father who created all the smells and tastes and sights that accompany a good meal and seek him on what I may do best to make much of him - no matter if it is a store bought cupcake, frozen chicken nuggets or homemade enchiladas.
Whether it is this or that - keep in mind it is for his glory and your good. And his grace is unending.
Matthew 15:11 and 18
Hear and understand:
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person,
but what comes out of the mouth...
what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart
and this defiles a person.
