One of the things I feel God has been speaking to me about is that food is super-spiritual. Our relationship with food is so strong we must always keep it in check. Our feelings about food affect our lives in so many ways! From childhood we have learned attitudes about food. Our family has a strong influence on how we think about food. Whether it’s holidays or everyday meal time, our lives are usually generously focused on eating food, shopping for it, preparing it, enjoying it and looking forward to it. It’s hard not to get emotional about food.
The shark named Bruce in the movie “Finding Nemo” has a similar but opposite problem. He’s trying to change his bad behavior (eating poor little fishies) by repeating “fish are friends, not food” to remind himself not to view fish as food. It’s like he’s a fish-aholic. Most of us are food addicts. We might change our spiritual relationship with food by saying “food is fuel, not a friend!”
God speaks to me about managing my weight from my heart. When we replace food with other focuses in our heart, we will manage our weight easily. The thing is, God wants us to de-throne food in our hearts. The very first sin was a food issue. Adam and Eve could not resist the temptation to eat the only food they were instructed not to eat. This shows me that God’s first order of business in self discipline was for humans to put God above food in their hearts. We must dethrone it! We must keep it at a distance in our feelings.
If you find yourself daydreaming about food, talking about food every hour, talking to your food, getting excited about food instead of the people you eat with, you may have to change your relationship with food. It’s a huge deal and the Bible has much to say about food. Fasting is a normal, healthy practice for every Christian. It wakes us up spiritually and stimulates the power of faith in us. Jesus said He had food that His disciples did not know about. (John 4:32) I believe we can and should learn about sustenance from God’s Word. I’m going to do a Bible study on food. I’m sure it will really open new levels of power in my life.
