There is growing fear around food in our society. Each documentary (and blogger, and nutritionist, and neighbor) answers differently. Supplements. Organic. Paleo. Vitamins. Gluten-free. Cleanses. Vegan. Gut health. Essential Oils. Ketones. If you don’t choose a solution, it can feel as though you’ve just conceded: you’re letting “the industry” kill off your family with cancer, high cholesterol or obesity.
Don’t get me wrong, being wise about food and exercise is good. But there is a difference between being wise and careful and putting all your hopes into your diet. The danger is that our health food of choice can become a functional savior. It’s as if healthy eating is a new gospel. But in truth it is no gospel at all.
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The sad result of seeing health food as a savior is that we become evangelists for it, telling others about all the benefits, hoping to convince them that the cost, time, and inconve- nience are worth it. We end up preaching a gospel that is— conveniently—far less offensive and far more easily shared with our neighbors than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of helping them, we are distracting them from what is the real threat to their health: sin and its wages of death.
But you may be asking, “Does rejecting the health-food gospel mean I should give no thought to what I eat?” Of course not. The Bible speaks clearly about managing all that God has entrusted to us, including our bodies, in responsible, God-honoring ways (1 Corinthians 6 v 19-20). But that’s not all that the Bible says about the issue. So how does the Bible instruct us to think about what we eat? Here are three ways to approach food to the glory of God.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6 v 31-34)
When my husband and I were in India to bring home our adopted son, the orphanage welcomed us with tea, muffins and cookies. The conditions for food preparation in this rural town were likely not ideal, and I knew the risks in eating and drinking what was offered. But I also knew how offensive it would be to reject this kindness. As representatives of Jesus in this foreign land, we ate in faith. Faith that God could keep our bodies well, even when exposed to potential health risks.
I might not be in rural India anymore, but social media keeps me well aware of the potential health risks in the food we have here. And so I continue to eat in faith—faith that God sustains my body and can keep it in good health despite the hazards around me. This doesn’t mean I lack common sense. Eating cheesecake three times a day probably isn’t the best decision. But instead of over-analyzing all of our consumption—instead of worrying all the time about tomorrow—our family strives for a well-balanced diet according to the financial means God has provided. I trust God with any concerns that remain.
If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience ... So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God ... just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10 v 27, 31, 33)
Sharing a meal together has long been a basic form of human connection and, as such, a prime avenue for the gospel. Paul understood this. He tells us that gospel proclamation trumps food preference every time. Paul is talking about matters of conscience—his readers were concerned about whether or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. If his in- struction even in that situation is to eat for the sake of the gospel, then it also applies to situations where it is only our preferences, not our consciences, that are at stake. We are to eat whatever is set before us without complaint, because the gospel is more important than a narrow palette or even our optimal health.
Now, if you are allergic to peanuts, by all means don’t eat the PB&J offered by your unbelieving neighbor. But if you prefer gluten-free bread simply because you feel better eating gluten- free food, this is your opportunity to trust God with your physical body and lay aside your preferences. Don’t make much of food: make much of God. As you receive the hospitality of your neighbor, you will have a much better opportunity to tell them of the hospitality of God in the gospel.
[God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
(Deuteronomy 8 v 3)
Jesus was born in a town named Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.” As a baby he was laid in a feeding trough. Later he called himself the bread of life. What might he be tell- ing us? Simply this: God intends our eating to remind us of a greater reality. God made us with a need for food so that we might understand our need for him. He alone can satisfy us.
Food is a shadow, a picture, of what God is for us. It is not ultimate. When Jesus was going through his forty-day fast in the desert, the devil tempted him to break his fast by turning stones into bread. But Jesus knew that what truly sustained him was not food but the word of God (Matthew 4 v 4). The same can be true for us too. Let’s not elevate food to a position that it was never meant to occupy.
Instead, we can use food to remind ourselves of all the good gifts that God has given us and the fact that he has provided for us eternally. When we are hungry, we can remember that God is the one who knows all our needs. When we eat—whether our bread is gluten-free or sourdough, multigrain or plain white, or even if we don’t eat bread at all—we can thank God for sending Jesus, the bread of life.
No matter what choices we make and what food we prefer, we should always be careful that we don’t fall into the trap of following the false gospel of healthy eating. The most important thing in life isn’t being healthy. The truth is that following Jesus can actually be hazardous to our health. As his followers, we are promised persecution and suffering. In some parts of the world, to choose Christ is to choose a shorter life. That kind of sacrifice makes our daily worries about what to eat seem very small.
In the end, all of us will get sick in this life. All of us will die. Our hope lies not in a more exhaustive knowledge of food or better choices at the grocery store but in a Savior who truly is making all things new.
How should we listen to, and think in a gospel way about, the ordinary things we come across in modern life? Things we watch, read, eat, and do. There are so many voices saying so many different things that the temptations are to either disengage completely, or find ourselves being influenced more and more by the world.
In Beautifully Distinct, godly, clear-thinking women talk about a range of areas of life and culture. They help us to be thoughtful about films, books, and the media; set out biblical principles for approaching topics such as body image and racism; and encourage us to shape the world around us for Christ—becoming beautifully distinct.
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Kelly Needham is a blogger and the author of Friendish. She has previously been on staff at two different churches, serving in youth, college, and women’s ministry.
