I like food. I like it a lot. I like it hand-dipped, chicken-fried, and smothered in gravy. I like it with a side of mashed potato's. I like to chase it with an ice-cold glass of sweet tea (AKA-the nostalgic nectar of yesteryear). In all probability, you like food too. In fact, the very reading of these first few sentences is likely to have stoked your salivary glands, and left you with a notion to hit the pantry for that half-a-Swiss roll your wife left. The question is obviously not if we love food. The perpetual affection for calories is an enduring distinctive of the human condition. The question is why. Why do we love food? Why are we compelled to consume more than is good for us?
Well, I don't want to speak for you, or to rob you of the joy of discovery, but I can tell you why I love food. For me, it's not the taste of food that keeps me coming back for more. No, my love lies in the feeling of fullness. I love to feel stuffed. I like to gorge myself to the point of dry-heaval. I like for my meals to force me into a pair of unflattering sweat-pants. The reason for this, I believe, is that the feeling of fullness is the feeling of self-sufficiency. Each time I fill my stomach to capacity, I secretly tell myself; " I can do this!" Silencing my hunger pains helps me temporarily forget my mortality. When I'm filled to the brim, I'm no longer faced with the inconvenience of trusting God for my next meal.
So what do I do? Well, I can start by rediscovering the fast as a means of grace. The occasional denial of my most primitive drive is the least I can do to reclaim my dependence. But in my battle against gluttony, I need more than just a weekly fast. I need for the spirit of the fast to penetrate my every meal. Come to think of it, feasting once-a-week would likely do my soul more good than fasting once-a-week.
It was pointed out to me this past week that the first temptation of man, and the first temptation of Christ both dealt with food. The enemy must know something. He must know that if he can get us to indulge our innate drive for food, he can practically annihilate our drive for God.
Could it be that our quest for calories is about more than just our love for Grandma's homemade biscuits and apple-butter? In truth, is it not more about our pursuit of self-sovereignty?
4 comments:
brother...this is crazy that you are thinking about this! Someone recently asked me if I was on a diet...because I have been looking a little healthier these days...and I replied...no..."I am working on my relationship with food" and they looked at me like I was crazy.
Now...You know I love me some food too! I probably would like it if they put a hamburger between two krispy kreme donuts!!
but this scripture has been messing with me...
1 Corinthians 6:12-13
"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both.
It is liberating to experience the nourishment of food...but not be a slave to it...
thanks for writing this!
Dustin, today is your lucky day. Someone has put a burger between two Krispy Kreme donuts AND they are selling them at the ball park. Here's the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/03/broadcasts/main1680067.shtml
Enjoy!
Josh, does this mean I don't have repay all those meals your parents served me by offering to buy you lunch?
Sultan of Syntax...bro, you have done it again.
Good word, great insight, and for the final in the trifecta of encouraging clauses...amazing truth about temptations that we face.
Wish i could hit you for a free throw jumper tomorrow night.
take care bro.
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