FOOD BY FAITH

 

Instruction for Health and Nutrition is all through the Bible.

There is good news. All our food can be good, healthful, nourishing, energizing. It is there, coming from the earth, the trees, the vine, coming from rain from heaven. But of late, if we have been hurting ourselves because we are taking the “wide road” with devitalized food, why just quick and easy? Why processed food, chemical additives, devitalized, bleached and degermed grains and a listed “ingredient” called “natural flavor”? (So called “natural flavor” is a lie). It is making us unhealthy, sick; making us less than we want to be and can be. There is another way.

This “other way” has been a profound subject for me, too high, too broad, and too deep. At the same time, the worthiness and fascination of it calls me. It has for a lifetime. It is a “Way” which is hopeful because the Bible is correct in every respect. Spiritual food and physical food have similarities: one is for the spirit and soul, the other for the body. God promised over and over to bring His people into a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is an example of abundant spiritual and physical nourishment. When Scripture highlights food it can apply to our whole person: “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ…;” (I Thessalonians 5:23). One type of food (spiritual) teaches about the other type (physical), but also the other way around.

From the first day I was born, and every day thereafter, my father and mother with their family of eight children read the Bible aloud together every day. Seven siblings and I learned to read this way. It influenced me, and even before I realized, it directed my life. By my twenties, my health pursuits became an adventure primarily because of Scripture.

At one point I traveled to Texas. I could type well and got a job at Link-Temco-Vought (LTV) in Dallas. There all the ways of the culture came up, including food and alcohol. Instead of going rogue, I decided to follow the Bible already planted in my head and heart. My spirit, soul and body needed to be fed. I saw good food described in Scripture.  For example, Ezekiel’s bread. God told Ezekiel, "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof..." (Ezekiel 4:9). Food is also figurative, "And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst." (John 6:35). Physical bread and spiritual bread are a highlight in Scripture, in both the Old Testament and the New.

The Bible has vital information about food and health sprinkled all the way through and in surprising places. We can go to it with certainty. Here is dependable wisdom and knowledge because our Creator wrote it all for us. It is the “bottom line” in nutritional wisdom. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”  (2 Peter 1:21).

The more you learn about nutritious food, its value to your health, the more you will enjoy it. Get it into your head and heart. Once convinced, eating knowledgably, eating wisely becomes a habit. Habitually eat what is good, you will soon look forward to it, even crave it. Grab salted almonds or a crisp apple and cheddar cheese or grapes. Two pieces of Ezekiel Bread, available in grocery stores (freezer section), with butter heated in the microwave for 30 seconds, then honey added, with it a half cup of grass-fed milk is one effective way to begin the day. Alternate with your simple homemade Granola. You and your body are happy.

"And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land." (Isaiah 7:22).