We have just enjoyed the season of the year where celebration and food have been a focal point. And so it should be. God ordained that the table be a place of joyous fellowship! But....
Have you ever stopped to think how much of our life is focused on FOOD?
It is a rare day that we think of it the minimum three times – breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Even when we aren’t actually eating - ‘food’ is never far from our consciousness
Have you ever measured the greatest distance between you and food at any point in your day? Or how long you can hold a conversation before there is a reference to food or drink?
We talk about ‘treats’ and food flashes into our minds.
We plan a celebration and food is the top of our to-do list.
We shop it, we cook it, we preserve it and prepare it - we work to pay for it!
We actually do very little that doesn’t sooner or later involve food or some process connected with it.
Have you ever thought about how much time we would have freed up in our daily lives if we suddenly had no need or desire for food?
From the day we were born, food has been an important all-consuming focus in our life. And the amazing thing is that we never tire of it!!
Have you ever heard anyone - unless they were very nauseous - express the wish that they would never have to eat again?
Probably not ... more often than not the focus is on trying to curb our eating .. not force ourselves to eat.
What is my point? I do have one!!!
God uses our insatiable need and desire for physical food as a picture of how we are to long for the things of God.
John 6:27 says in Jesus’ words, “Do not labour for the food that perishes but for the food which endures for everlasting life!”
If you think back over your day yesterday, what is the time ratio between the time you spent on physical food and the time you spent on spiritual food?
How much time did you spend,
Thinking about God,
Reading your bible,
Talking to God,
Talking about God in your conversations,
Learning about the things of God,
Working for the things of His Kingdom.
When you were last ‘hungry’, was it the pleasure of physical food that you thought of or was it spiritual food you yearned for to satisfy your hunger?
I would like to challenge us today to just think about the new year facing us …2011.
How important a place will God have in our activities and plans? How much time will we spend on our spiritual well-being?
This coming year when we daily enjoy the food that God has given us to so richly, both to enjoy and to sustain physical life … may we let it remind us that we do “not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4 NKJV
May you be blessed this New Year with all the blessings of God’s Life and Goodness and Truth! "
May you taste and see that God is GOOD! " Ps.34:8
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9 comments:
Thank you, Julie. I really appreciate these thoughts an desire to apply them to my life.
A good challenge Julie.
Very tasty morsels here indeed! Delicious!
I was waiting for your New Year's Post, as we think about who holds the hand in our future? Good analogy of food desires.
Wonderful post for the start of a new year. God is good.
Oh, you are so right Julie. I knew right where you were headed...not being far from our food source! He is our sustenance and we sure need to be feeding on Him, His Word at all times! Good word for the beginning of this new year! Thank you!
You are right on. In a message at church a couple of weeks age our pastor was talking about self help books and how God gave us the only self help book that we will ever need, His Holy Word. I read it through last year and and beginning again. It always speaks to my heart.
Oh this one hits very close to home. So often I'm thinking -"What can I eat?" when It's my spirit that is hungry for the Word. (the word verification for this comment is "gratin" - ah cheese - there it is again - food infiltrates every thought!) The Bible urges us to have God infiltrate every corner of our hearts and minds. A worthy New Years' resolution.
Wonderful challenge Julie!
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