Getting Beyond Abundance

... in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
2 Corinthians 11:27

Food is a part of our culture. Have you noticed that? It's ingrained. We eat to celebrate. We eat as we grieve. We provide food as support. We laugh, fellowship, and bond over food. There is something about food that is connected to almost every major and minor event in life.

I'm not sure how this developed, and know that we are not alone. There really is something about sharing a meal with people. It's intimate. It does help foster bonds.

I recently had the opportunity to go on my first international mission trip. I was blessed to go to Kenya, which I absolutely loved. They eat very differently than we do, and our hosts were very kind and conscientious to make sure we were well fed. At one point, we actually requested to be fed less. We had more than enough to be satisfied.

However, while there we were surrounded by people who not only didn't have enough to be satisfied, they often didn't know when or where their next meal was coming from. One of our team members, who's willing to eat anything, at a flying termite just to gross the rest of us out. We'd been teasing him for several days, but the truth of the matter is those abundant insects are what sustains many people from day to day. They truly are food.

Most of us can't even imagine it. It's one thing to be crazy enough to eat a bug, but it's another to be hungry enough to have to eat them.

The above verse, as Paul is talking about his hardships, reminds me of these people. They know true hunger and thirst, to the point of starvation. For the most part, we do not.

One day, I think I'd like to keep less food in my house. To eat what's there or get rid of all the extra stuff that accumulates over time. However, right now I'm not in my own house, so I don't have that authority. That's why it's important for me to learn how to limit my consumption with an abundance of product. To dig in, seek self-control, and remember - day to day - that I'm to eat for life, not live to eat. 

When I have some down time and get bored, that's hard to remember. When we're celebrating a birthday, that's hard to keep in the forefront of my mind. But it is a journey. A journey that won't be straight and pothole free, but one that I've committed to and will continue. Because I really do want to be healthy.

Even when I'm frustrated. 

Even when I'm exhausted.

Even when I'm overjoyed.

It's about being healthy. Taking care of my body. Honoring God and being here for my family.

So today, I will choose to eat for health, not live to eat.

Valuing Health

Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:29-34

On this food journey I'm on I'm learning many things. One of which is how much the Bible talks about food, eating, and gluttony. The story of Jacob and Esau is one very familiar to those of us who've been following Jesus for a long time. I really couldn't begin to count how many times I've heard this story. I've heard great teachings and expositions on it. However, today as I read through verses that could help me on this journey to health, this one stood out.

Most of us cannot relate to being so hungry we'd give up our inheritance for a single meal. We've never gone without food, unless by choice from fasting or dieting. Even when we break the fast or give up on the diet, there's generally a cupboard of food at our fingertips from which we can choose any number of prepared foods. Getting something to eat is simply a matter of opening a bag or box.

We might be able to relate more to the exhaustion part. Still though, the fridge, cabinets, and take-out restaurants hold a wide variety of easy, no-effort options. Even fatigue isn't a barrier to getting something to eat in our fast food culture.

So it may be difficult to understand Esau's desperation for food to the point of begging his brother and giving up his inheritance. However, there is plenty we've traded for food. Or, as I saw it put recently, "food-like" items that we continuously shovel in our mouths.

There have been countless times I've grabbed something quick and convenient because I'm tired or emotional or just plain lazy. I trade off a well-balanced meal for a bag of chips. I trade off vegetables and fruit for a frozen corn dog. The list could go on.

Can you relate to that? 

We don't think of these trade offs as costing us as much as they do. Really we are, just like Esau, trading off our birth right for quick and convenient food. Our birth right of health in Jesus. He came to give us abundant life and health, but we often trade that off for food that tastes good and feels good, but doesn't have any real nutritional value.

We eat things that drain our energy, add unhealthy fat, and even bog down our brains. We tend to eat things for our tongue and stomach instead of for the rest of our bodies.

This is one of the major discoveries I've had recently. I've known the "right" things and way to eat for a long time. I've even done it before. Over the last year I kept asking myself why I wasn't able to eat like that again. Consistently.

It goes back to the same principle we see with Esau. He allowed his stomach and fleshly desires to override what he surely knew in his head. I'm sure he regretted it afterwards, much as I've felt guilt over letting my flesh direct the food I put in my body.

What I'm learning, though, is that I really do desire to be healthy and that has to override my desire for quick, easy and pleasurable food. Every time I eat. That doesn't mean I never have something prepared or processed. It doesn't mean I don't have any treats. It just means that I feed my body what it truly needs to be healthy the majority of the time. It means I value my health over my taste buds. And it means I experience the blessings of health and energy that comes from consuming the foods that God so graciously has provided for us to consume.