March 3rd: How Do I Bring Glory to God With What I Eat?

Day two update: no sweets, no cheating.  Woo-hoo, I guess…

So far, though, my resolve hasn’t been challenged.  I haven’t craved chocolate yet.  The desire for the sweets hasn’t magnified because of my decision to not eat them.  I don’t know why.  Usually it is just the opposite.  The “can’t” makes the “want” a total monster, picture your two year old throwing her worst fit.  My “want” is like that time 50.

That thought takes me back to the beginning.  Where the conviction started, the place the Holy Spirit first started pointing to an area in my life that was not conformed to the image of the Son.

“Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.  You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God’s.”  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

So this posed the question:  How do I bring glory to God with what I eat?  What does God want me to eat?

There are so many plans and experts out there who want to tell you what to eat.  Low carbs, good carbs, no carbs etc.  I’d yo-yo’d throughout my life and was ready to just do this God’s way.  What does the Bible say about eating?

My first answer to this question was: God doesn’t want my flesh to rule over me.

We are complicated beings, wonderfully made by a Creator in His image.  We are comprised of Spirit, Soul, and Body. 

Spirit: also known as the mind of Christ, the Holy Spirit lives here.  Our spirit points us to the Son, to be made into His image, to bring Glory to the Father.

Soul: Our minds, feelings, and heart.  This part of me doesn’t tell me about God, it tells me about me.  What I think and feel, that wonderfully deceitful heart according to Jeremiah 17:9.

Body: Its appetites.  Sleep, hunger, pleasure, pain, etc.  Craves food.  Sidenote, did you know that food scientists use cutting-edge technology to calculate the “bliss point” of sugary beverages or enhances the “mouthfeel” of fat by manipulating its chemical structure?  Science has proved that junk food acts in our bodies in a similar way to heroin in a drug addict, needing more and more to achieve the same “high.”  Our bodies and its cravings are deceived as well.

Ergo, Soul + Body = Flesh.  The part of us that is in need of sanctification.

I don’t know about you, but I’m more in tune with my Soul and Body yelling at me, than the still, soft, gentle voice of the Spirit.

A friend of mine posted on FB one of those ecards that read something to the effect, “Maybe I wouldn’t kill so many houseplants if they yelled to be fed like my kids do.” 

I’ve prayed to be yelled at, to be made willing by force.  But just as my bicep won’t get stronger by my wishing it would, I need to strengthen my “spirit-man.”  I need to choose to not listen to the yelling flesh, pay attention to the Spirit.  To practice that paying attention through prayer, going to the Word, and walking in obedience, regardless of what my soul and body say to the contrary.

Whoa, this is off my notes, but writing that paragraph, I suddenly saw that maybe this is what fasting would be like.  I’m not all that clear on fasting and honestly am a little afraid of it.  But as I wrote that paragraph, I pictured a fast.  Simply practicing listening to the Spirit while denying flesh.  Huh.  Well then… Thank you Lord for small epiphanies.

Back to my notes…

“Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so you do not do the things you wish.”  (Galatians 5:16)

Summing up the next verses following:

Fruit of Spirit: Peace, Patience (Long-Suffering), Faithfulness, Self-Control.  (This does not sound at all like my eating habits.)

Works of Flesh: Idolatry (anything we’d sin to have, anything we use to satisfy our hungry souls in place of Him), Revelries (free for alls, Fat Tuesday type riotous behaviors), Selfish Ambition, Fits of Rage (but I WANT A COOKIE NOW!)

Further study on flesh and spirit supplied countless verses.  Clearly, God didn’t create us to be ruled by our bodily appetites or our deceitful heart, but to surrender to and be led by His Spirit within us.  Therefore, what I eat should not be decided upon by my body and its manufactured lust, or my soul, with its poor-me-needs-a-cookie-to-be-happy lies. 

No, clearly the Spirit of God will lead me into choosing what I eat based on what will bring Him more glory.  My part is to stay surrendered, stay in peace, believing this battle is His.

“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:3)