Diet: A Christian Discipline Overlooked pt.1
I enjoy a good meal. And I have Scripture that supports my argument that food is an essential and vital piece of being hospitable. And shouldn't Christians be hospitable? Therefore, "eat, drink and be merry!"
Or is this an underdeveloped understanding of a topic that matters more than, perhaps, we have considered previously?
Yes, indeed, Christians are to be hospitable (1 Peter 4:9). Yes, we should eat together (Acts 2:42). But does this explicitly suggest we eat without caution to our health? Of course not!
Our lifestyle should be one of discipline and focus. We, who are saved by Jesus, are called to be His slaves. This means that our lives are not our own but were bought by Christ to Christ. Since Jesus is our Master, we live our lives accordingly. I believe that in a culture where fattening, rich, and delicious food is constantly before us, having the ability and discipline to watch our diet preaches an aspect of the Christian life louder than a sign holding, red faced, mega-phone yelling man on the street corner.
If Christians took their belief of the gospel - that our identity is in Him and the Spirit is in us to live for His glory - in every aspect of our lives, what would our lives look like? I'm certain that Christians would be more disciplined if the gospel was applied to their marriages, workplaces, friendships, and diets.
Before anyone gets too upset with me, I want to say that I have struggled tremendously with my diet. I am not throwing any judgements on anyone because I am humbly reminded of my personally poor choices in my diet. I do want to encourage you though that a true lifestyle change is possible. And though I have spent too many days eating large portions and satisfying my sweet tooth, I have come to the conviction that my inability to be disciplined in my diet is sinful.
And I don't believe I stand alone.
The difficult obstacle of watching your diet
I love being an American. I am grateful for our freedoms and the ability to work diligently to climb the various tax brackets. I am happy to live in a country that offers higher education, and the cultural "push" to receive a higher education. As a pastor, I am grateful for our religious freedoms! We live in such a wonderful land. I am truly thankful.
However, with our economy, freedoms, and enjoyable living, we can very quickly become complacent and entitled in areas that we are blind to. For some it will be their salary. Others it will be vacations. Some will be housing. For many it will be diet.
There are chains of fast-food restaurants, steak houses, Italian foods, pizzerias, burger joints, and on and on the list goes! Our grocery stores are packed with quick, easy, and delicious meal prep foods that make cooking that much less stressful.
Our convenience mentality from the culture has unknowingly, to many, crept into our walk with Christ. Let us be aware that our culture does indeed affect the way in which we live for God. . .and many times the cultural norm is unhelpful with our spiritual life.
Simply admitting that it's difficult to watch your diet in this culture is the initial step of changing your diet lifestyle. But then there is hard work to do! Such as: meal plan, diet plan, meal prep, budgeting (eating better is more expensive!), and having the discipline to say "no" to the foods that you're craving.
Lifestyle diet is difficult, but necessary as Christians.
In his book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, Dr. Michael Brown confessed his long-lived battle with food addiction. About nine years ago, he found freedom from this addiction and now lives a healthy, joyful, energized life.
How should the local church handle cultural issues?
Should I even be writing this article?
Local church leadership should be intentional about speaking on topics of cultural issues occurring in their cultural setting. Such as gender identity, sexual orientation, marital issues, and food consumption.
The New Testament letters are written to believers of Jesus that lived in a social context, with cultural persuasions, and honest questions about the faith in the midst of their cultural climate. In the book of Romans, Paul, the author, wrote about the universal need of righteousness (1:16-3:20), justification by faith (3:21-5:21), how life in Christ practically plays out (6:1-8:39), the mystery of Israel through history (9:1-11:36), and he exhorted the believers in Rome to live as disciples of Jesus (12:1-15:13). This rough outline of what many consider to be the peak of theological glory, was written to real people, in a real culture, answering real cultural questions.
Paul also authored the letters to the Corinth believers where, once again, he corrected misguided beliefs and answered needed questions. Paul also wrote Colossians to counter the “Colossian heresy,” a cultural philosophical idea that was an affront to the gospel. Another letter authored by Paul is Galatians, which was written to clarify and defend the true gospel of Jesus.
As Paul wrote to believers answering questions about their faith in the midst of the culture, so Peter, James, John, and Jude wrote to their audiences, answering their questions about cultural issues.
Reading through the New Testament, while understanding the cultural settings of each epistle, it is clear that the local church must speak into the matters of cultural issues. We are all the product of our environments. So, the members of the local church are indeed entangled within the cultural issues of our day. Because of this, it is imperative that the leadership within the local church speaks boldly and graciously on all cultural issues.
In this initiatory article on diet, what are some ways in which you can more carefully watch your food consumption and live a more disciplined life? Let us be free from the bondage of food! "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1b).
Thanks for the refreshed perspective on this discipline. This is something I haven’t been taking very seriously but will take this as nudge toward loving a more holy and set apart life!
ReplyDelete