walking with Father: diet

Friday, January 18, 2008

You Are What You Eat

My wife and I try to eat sensibly, buying fresh fruit and vegetables and keeping fat and sugar to a minimum. We have tried various diets in the past, but they didn't seem to produce the promised results and in any case we found that the rigid regime began to take over our lives.

Others choose to take it more seriously and often quote the phrase, "You are what you eat!" I looked it up and found it originated in the 1800's or earlier in Europe. The German, "Der Mensch ist, was er ißt."translates into English as 'man is what he eats'. Much later in the 1960's, it was adopted by the champions of healthy eating and is currently the title of a popular TV dieting series.

Sometimes food is taken much further. We watched a TV programme the other evening about families who were following an extreme raw food diet, omitting all meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, wheat and flour and certain fruits. The food preparation gave us the impression of being a laboratory, rather than a kitchen. They looked physically healthy, but we were given the impression that it had become the top priority in their lives. A filmed teaching session was shown, that appeared very much like an evangelical Christian service of praise and worship.

It never ceases to amaze me how we will often go to extraordinary lengths to preserve our physical health, but give scant attention to our spiritual lives. Jesus came to give us new life, free and everlasting! We need to eat and drink, but only He can satisfy the spiritual hunger. Furthermore, he did not separate out the physical from the spiritual.

If we feed regularly upon and inwardly digest His Word and drink in His loving presence, we have the potential for an abundant life, which has a positive effect upon our whole being, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

"Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4 New International Version

"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 New International Version

Food for Thought

"But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received." Isaiah 53:5 Good News Bible

I heard on the television yesterday, that it's been discovered that dark chocolate is helpful for those suffering from fatigue. That's good news for me, as I love chocolate. I take it with a pinch of salt though, along with claims that red wine benefits the heart, spinach enriches the blood and butter is bad for you.

This made me think about food and diet in general. I've lost count of the different diets that have been offered to my wife and I, often with a guarantee of a miracle cure. We've tried several, but I came to the conclusion that rigidly following a strict restrictive diet can get in the way of following Jesus, the real Miracle Worker. We enjoy a balanced diet and I would certainly avoid any food that disagreed with me, but that's as far as I would go along that route.

I believe that healing is part of the Christian salvation package. Jesus ministered and still does, to the whole person. He didn't separate out the spiritual from the emotional and physical. So looking to Him for healing does mean opening all areas of our lives to Him and changing our ways. Often and especially with some stress-related illness, we may even contribute to our own sickness through our behaviour patterns. For example, if I keep banging my head against a brick wall, I will get a headache. Better to stop the habit, than take pain relief. Better still to ask God to show us why we were doing it in the first place.

I think however, that many of us would rather pop pills, follow a diet or even take part in a sponsored walk across the Mongolian Desert, than allow God to show us what is going on inside and heal us. It can be just too scary to let the hurting recesses of our hearts be exposed. The truth is that He is very gentle and we can trust Him.

I know that Christian healing is a controversial subject for some and this is not the gospel according to Wayfarerjon, but it is food for thought!

I will continue to enjoy my chocolate in moderation, especially if it is fairtrade. I'll keep up the vitamin pills, but I will always try to put God first and seek His way. I thank Him for the medics and professionals and the food He provides, but also seek His deep healing peace that reaches the places others cannot.