It’s About Fellowship Not Food~Part II
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil-this is the gift of God.”
Today starts part II of our blog series on fellowship and food. If you read yesterday’s blog, then you know I challenged each of you to take back your table and keep it sacred. Understanding the significance of each meal as fellowship with God, changes the way you eat. I have recommitted to this, by posting a pic of my kitchen table, and I encourage you to do the same. I would love to see all of your tables! Yesterday we focused mainly on the fellowship, but today is all about our thoughts of food. Now let’s get to it.
I know that for many of you, looking at your table causes more than a little of anxiety in your life. You don’t look at your table with love, but with frustration, maybe even terror. For so long what’s on your table has dominated your life, so you have written it off altogether. What I suggest to you today, is that your table is not sinful or making you fat. Rather, the LACK of the table is. It’s the drive thru, grab and go mentally, isolated consumption of food that’s keeping you overweight and miserable. Because when we grab and go, it’s never enough. I want you to know that you no longer have to have a tortured relationship with food. Maybe you’re not overweight, but just sick of being strung out about food all the time. Your sick of the feelings of obsession and guilt. My hope is that the words I discuss today will help you, and offer you a bit of perspective.
Read the above scripture from Ecclesiastes again. It’s says that each of THEM may eat and drink and find satisfaction in THEIR toil and that this is a gift from God! Two things to focus on here. The first, is the word THEM. This is plural. You are meant to be in fellowship and around others eating good food like we talked about yesterday. Think about this for a minute. What typically happens when we are isolated? Destruction. In my experience gluttony, like most sin, is a solitary thing. You know those days. When your alone in your car and an entire box of donuts or cookies are devoured in less than five minutes. Or, it’s midnight and your the only one up in the kitchen with that tub of blue bell. OR, it’s just you in your office at work and you can’t wait to get to the stash of candy you have hidden away. Lack of self control and isolation are usually present together. Yet, another reason to come back to the table with loved ones in fellowship with Christ. Coming to the table is not just, “I need food” but, “I need you”.
Second, Ecclesiastes says that to eat and drink is the gift of God. Your food is not to be feared or abused, but considered pure blessing. Food is not evil. Our sin is. Eat your food and see that it is good but not God. The bible tells us to avoid gluttony, not food altogether.
Proverbs 23:20-21
“Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat for drunkards and gluttons become poor and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”
I want you to neither hate or love your food, but enjoy it because it nourishes you and keeps you moving forward. Food is a gift not THE gift. It’s not the focus of your life. Taste each bite. Be grateful for it and move on. Now, let me also say; that not all food is created equal. Properly steward the gift that God has given you in your body. Put clean, good foods in it that will allow you to function better as a child of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that our body is literally the temple of the holy spirit. Do we get the power in that? The responsibility? Then why are we destroying our temples daily? We live in a modern day Babylon with endless food choices that are killing us and clothing us in rags. Just look at the enormous health costs that are the result of poor nutrition. Doctor bills, prescription bills, on and on they go. Know this: Satan (our enemy) will give you whatever you want until it kills you. It may be sex, drugs, money, fame, FOOD, whatever IT is, until you die. Tomorrow, I’m going to discuss some specific actions steps you can take when your being baited with this tactic. Stay tuned for Part III!
Commit this verse to memory….Get it in your heart, and walk out in it.
Speaking the truth in love,
Lindsey
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