Eating For Life

Eating for Life

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

There is a great deal of worry today about what we eat and how we look. Recent headlines warn of the dangers of tainted food from overseas. We try to eat plenty of vegetables and fruits but then hear a report that pesticides or E coli bacteria have made spinach or apples unsafe. Many of us worry about whether eating carbs will make us fat, and some of us long to look like the skinny models we see in magazines.

Although today’s verse was penned centuries ago, it has much application for us today. It tells us to eat and drink for the glory of God. We’re not to be overly preoccupied with our bodies or with what we should eat. There is so much more to life than the food we put in our stomachs. As we’ve seen this week, we’re accountable for the gift of life we’ve been given, and God wants us to be good stewards of our bodies. Part of that stewardship is choosing to eat a variety of good foods, not obsessing about food but making wise choices about what we eat, and then eating in moderation. We all know the toll that eating high-fat, high-sugar foods takes on our health and that eating nutritious food (fruits, veggies, and whole grains) plays a role in preventing many illnesses. Eating healthy food for the purpose of sustaining life and renewing our strength is a great goal. If we continually commit our bodies and food issues to God, ask him for wisdom, and turn to him (not a late-night pint of ice cream) for comfort, he will guide us.

As you endeavor to eat right and exercise, avoid doing it to have a perfect body you can flaunt or to glorify yourself. Instead, do it to glorify God and to have the physical and mental energy to do all he’s called you to do. —CHERI

Holy Spirit, take control of my eating and grocery shopping. Let me not worry about food or be preoccupied with my body. Instead, let me be filled with your wisdom and make life-giving choices about what I eat and drink. Apart from you I can do nothing, not even change my eating habits. I ask you to help me and to be my comfort so that I won’t turn to food for what only you can supply.

Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise [or healthy eating] will sooner or later have to find the time for illness.

—EDWARD STANLEY (1826–1893), EARL OF DERBY