The Medicine Cabinet: Eat Well — Monday
1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (NLT)
You may have heard it said before, “Some eat to live, others live to eat.” While many of you see food simply as fuel and may not even think much about it in your everyday life, others of you join me in the live-to-eat club of self-proclaimed “foodies.” I’d argue that a lot of it depends on how you were raised. I grew up with two parents who could have easily been chefs considering their talents in the kitchen, and our TV was set to Food Network or Cooking Channel 80% of the time. At holiday gatherings, my extended family has historically pulled out all the stops to make the most delicious, Southern Living-esque feasts. Our conversation even tends to center around food! Being a foodie is practically in my blood.
No matter how you were raised or where you find yourself on that spectrum, food is a significant part of all our lives, and it affects us physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually—whether we realize it or not. Some of us might struggle to understand why food should even be discussed in church, and that’s a fair question! It’s certainly not a common sermon topic, and it may not seem like the most spiritual of subjects. So why does it matter?
We can find the answer to that question in several places in scripture, but perhaps most clearly in today’s verse above. Every single thing we do is an act of worship, and as followers of Jesus, we are called to do ALL things in a way that centers our worship on Him—including how we fuel our bodies.
But as someone who has wrestled quite a bit in my relationship with food, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s not always easy or clear-cut because, like most things in our fallen world, this good gift from God has been hijacked by our very real enemy. We’ll talk more about that as we go throughout this week, but for today, my invitation to you is this: If you haven’t already, invite Jesus into this area of your life. I don’t know about you, but it’s really easy for me to forget that living my life for His glory is an all-encompassing type of surrender. There is no part of my life that I get to keep to myself, under my control. Uncomfortable, right? But what I love about Jesus is that more surrender always leads to more freedom. So let’s pursue that together this week as we explore what it looks like to turn food into an act of worship in our lives.
Monday’s Reflection
Take an honest evaluation of how you approach food and eating. Invite the Lord to speak truth into this part of your life and reveal any area where there’s room for growth, surrender, and freedom.
