Loving Jesus and Loving food?

While I had hoped for a lengthy series, outlining the perfect Christian diet, with black and white directions on what is right and wrong, this is not what I’ve come up with. As I mentioned in one of my comments I have been trying to seek wisdom on whether healthy eating is important or not so that i can throw myself into a no carb,low fat diet or feel justified in my nonchalant eating…And as I mentioned there, perhaps neither of these options are good.

Throughout many parts of the bible we are shown that perseverance, self control, day to day wisdom and discernment are pleasing to God and necessary for our growth to maturity. When it comes to dealing with good things God has created, in a world that perverts and idolizes, explicit, extremist instruction is a rarity. There is often a grey area, unique circumstances and things to factor in.

We are to have children where able as they are a blessing from God, but we are not to parent badly for the sake of having more children. We are to love, share with, understand and participate in the lives of non-christians but we are not to pretend we are the same as them. We are to steward our money well, but we are not to chase after it as an idol. We are to speak the truth of the gospel openly, regularly and to all who will hear, but we are not to harass or attack.

When it comes to how we do family, friendships, money, evangelism etc. we are required to employ degrees of self control and shrewdness on a day to day level, as we seek out God’s glory above our own. I have come to the conclusion that how we do food is the same. If I am eating for the glory of God and the care of others, sometimes (eg. Lunch at work or home) I will say no to the things I don’t need and just want, choosing much healthier options. Other times (eg. Dinner with friends) I will enjoy treats in a free and thankful, un-enslaved way.

Eating well is important. God has given me a body to do his work. I will not trash his temple. God has also designed my body to store energy as fat and to use food as fuel and that’s good too.

Lord God give us the strength and wisdom to love you more than food and to love your glory more than my own pleasure. Let food, health and self awareness not become idols or captures as we experience your goodness in giving them to us.

Marcel

This is cute. And strange...but also funny. Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/14190306

365.

367 days ago…

I was post school but pre HSC.

I was probably going to marry a guitar playing, hair swishing, pastors kid.

I was probably very proud.

I was very single.

When Josh started asking me out I said no, 3 times. The first 2, rightfully so. His hair didn’t flick and he didn’t play the guitar. He was a hard working tradesman who liked dirt bikes and hated churchy events. None of these reasons were valid, but he was also not a Christian, so I said no. Further down the track this last reason changed. But I was I was still caught up on my plans for my future husband, ignoring all that God had put in front of me.

He hadn’t learnt to play guitar and his dad hadn’t suddenly become a pastor but the Holy Spirit was transforming his heart to be like Jesus. He had a longing to lead well and to provide for me. He understood that he was sinful and that nothing he could do was good enough to reconcile himself to God. He understood that he must do things the way God had designed for them to be done, in obedience to King Jesus. So

365 days ago…

I said yes.

I thought I had made a big mistake.

I was very wrong.

A year later I find myself engaged to a mature man of God – who thrives off looking after kids and helping people out without any expectation of thanks or reward. Who is kind to me and others and tries to look for Gods glory rather then his own. Who’s parents love us both, lead by example and teach us regularly how to be godly. Who leads well, works hard and is of course unbelievably handsome.

Looking back on the last 12 months I can see my pride. How wrong I was to think that my plans and expectations for my life were any better than Gods! How wrong I was to think that a mans godliness could be measured by how musical, emotional and easy going he appeared rather than how hard working, committed to provision and keen to lead he was. How wrong I was to think that marriage was for my enjoyment or comfort rather than Gods service.

How thankful I am that God is bigger than my foolishness and kinder than I was, in giving me a man who longs to love me as Christ loved the church.

I love you JPM, happy anniversary.

Being Pure With our Eyes

Recently i've been introduced to a program called x3watch.

I has been created by a group called XXXChurch who work at finding ways to help christians fight against pornography addictions/temptations. I have no personal experience to draw on here but the x3watch program is certainly a good, free, safeguard to help people search the net with integrity. Once it's loaded onto your computer you select an accountability partner who receives fortnightly emails containing the names and date they were visited of any suspect looking sites.

The XXXChurch also has a blog with interesting information and stories related to sexual purity (helpful for some, not so much for others i would think). I thought i would share it all with you as a resource.

1:8-19

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction

and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head

and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,

do not give in to them.

¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us;

let's lie in wait for someone's blood,

let's waylay some harmless soul;

¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave,

and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things

and fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us,

and we will share a common purse"-

¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,

do not set foot on their paths;

¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin,

they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷ How useless to spread a net

in full view of all the birds!

¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;

they waylay only themselves!

¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;

it takes away the lives of those who get it.

I have been struck recently (again) of how the suffering of this world validates God's word and truth. The bible speaks of how the earth will groan, falling apart under the grips of sin, and we see it, don't we? As christians we feel as though we need to sell the bible in tricky ways, knowing it's power, but doubting its relevance or appeal to those who are not yet saved. As non believers we assume the bible has nothing for us, it is old and big, relevant only to years gone by. But when we look at the big picture of the bible we can see it's all happening...now. We do seek valuable things (forsaking others if need be) and our feet rush to sin. We see lives swallowed by ill-gotten gain. The bible speaks of the creator, the world he created, and the creation who turned away. We are that creation, in that world, there could be no book more relevant than the bible.

Hilarity

She draws funny pictures. Her name is Natalie Dee. I do not endorse all of her work so i shant be linking to her page...but i like these.

Loving Jesus. Loving Food

I was not born with a healthy appetite. Don't get me wrong, it's not as though i'm the type to buy a chocolate bar while i'm out and i know that chips and nuggets isn't a meal. It's more that i'm the type of girl who likes to put butter on my potatoes and mix cheese through my pasta you know? My diet choices will probably lead to extra weight, hurting joints and internal health problems. I eat the food i like, when i'm hungry. But what does loving Jesus have to do with this?

From the beginning food is something God has created for his people to eat and enjoy. There are 293 references to "food" in the bible. These include sacrifical offerings to God, provision from God, metaphors and analogies about God, commandments from God about looking after others and a couple of instructions about the consumption of food. It would be safe to say that what and how much I eat has something to do with God and his plan for his people.

The issue is food means something different everyone. We all have bodies and the need to refuel, but what it takes to do that and the affect food has on our bodies (and our mental state) varies. There are some who don’t eat enough, some who can’t afford to exercise their understanding of a healthy balanced diet, some who eat too much, some who have an air of snobbery in their eating choices, some who love fruit and vegetables and some who loathe them. There are some who eat what their parents give them, some who enjoy a long walk/run, some who are too busy to exercise, some who eat specifically for ethical reasons and some who eat very little in order to keep their appearance in check with social standards. Each of these people need to eat (and exercise?) for the glory of Jesus. For each of these people doing this will look different.

I know that I want to make Jesus look good but there are blockages in my thinking – questions and thoughts that I know apply but that I am yet to understand the answer/conclusion to.

I don’t want to be enslaved to eating the easiest, tastiest, least nutritionally helpful food I can because I know that Jesus says we are to follow him, not our own natural desires

I don’t want to be enslaved to a strict healthy eating diet because I worship Jesus, not my health or appearance

I don’t want to negatively affect community – much of community happens around food (this is not only trend but in many ways biblical)

I don’t want to be exclusive – As I said above many people I know respond to food in different ways, I don’t want my own strict (or not strict) habbits to be a stumbling block for them

I don’t want to make an Idol for myself – If we can tell what we worship by what we spend the most time, money and energy on I wonder how consuming (in all three ways) a strict healthy eating diet would be?

I don’t want to be a glutton – (Proverbs 28:7, Proverbs 23:21) The bible puts them in the same category as drunkards, thief’s and idolaters…But what does this even look like?

I don’t want to steward my money badly – How much eating out is ok? Is spending extra money (out or at home) good for the sake of health? Should I be cutting costs and doing things cheaply for the sake of using left over money generously if it means compromising health?

I don’t want to be ridiculous – It seems silly to eat things I don’t like, pretend im excited about ordering salad instead of chips and say no when someone offers me ice cream without justification…just because maybe I should isn’t a good enough reason.

I don’t want to be lazy – It takes more effort to cook healthily and to exercise regularly (or at all). Is saying no to these things lazy?

I don’t want to steward my time badly – While I don’t want to be lazy, there are a thousand other, biblically good, things I could be doing in that time.

I don’t want to mess with Gods temple/creation – our bodies are described as Gods temple where his spirit dwells (if we are believers) and as we see in Genesis, we are his creation. Therefore my body is a possession of Christs. In the same way I don’t want to cover my neighbours well kept lawn in rubbish, I don’t want to fill Gods creation/temple with it either.

BUT

I do want to say no to things that won’t help me bring glory to the name of Jesus

I do want to set a good example, of putting off my old self and putting on my new identity in Christ, for those I love and are yet to love.

I do want to have convictions. I want to know when I need to say sorry to God. I don’t want to hide behind my ignorance.

Hopefully I can deal with some of these questions over the next little while. Your thoughts would be great!