Pay Attention to What You Eat!

There is an article in the SF Chronicle today (also on the Network News last night) that scientists have “discovered” through various studies that it doesn’t matter what kind of diet you may be on, what ultimately matters is how many calories you eat. Now there’s a big ‘duh’ isn’t it!? … And adding insult to injury, the study was probably tax-payer subsidized!!

I’ve known for years that I had to watch my calories. But recently, I met with a cardiologist (since I have a history of heart problems in my family—and I am now 60) and he put me on ‘bad’ cholesterol-reducing medicine and told me to begin monitoring my blood pressure. As a result, I find I am paying even more attention to what I eat (no more salt, no more canned food) and even less red meat than before.

God is interested in what I eat too. He says ‘man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.’ In the wilderness, God fed the Hebrews with manna. Centuries later, Jesus said the manna from heaven was a symbol of Him, as he referred to himself as the bread which came down from heaven. Then Jesus made such an outrageous statement that many of His disciples actually stopped following Him. He said “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” Of course we understand that Jesus was, again, speaking in symbolic terms that man cannot survive spiritually on natural/physical food but needs spiritual food to have real life. Seems to me, Jesus was saying “pay attention to what you eat.”

When you have tried to diet, you know that if you cut down your calories too quickly, you were hungry, and then tempted to eat the wrong kinds of food. Successful eaters know it is better to eat enough ‘good’ food so that they are less likely to be hungry for, or craving, the ‘bad’ stuff. So it is with our spiritual appetite. Maybe you are not eating properly (the bread of life, God’s Word) because you are full from eating from the world’s banquet of pleasures. (Or perhaps I should say from the world’s trough!)

Adam and Eve ate the wrong food and died. If you and I eat the right food, we live. I encourage you to pay attention to what you are eating!