“Food, wonderful food…” A lot of people have become concerned lately, particularly here in America, that we have become, largely, a nation of obesity. I haven’t actually seen any real data on the subject, but I think it is fair to say that we are among the heaviest people on earth.
Jesus said that it’s not what goes into a person’s mouth that’s the problem; it’s what comes out of a person’s mouth. Of course, He said what, not how much. Too much of anything is a bad thing. I realize that a lot of people believe that if some is good, then more is better, but, generally, that doesn’t work out to be the case.
We know that, during the Exodus, Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt, with the intention of bringing them into the Promised Land, the Children of Israel became obsessed with what hey were going to eat. In some ways, that’s understandable, they were in the wilderness, there weren’t any obvious sources of food around them, they started getting hungry, and very quickly assumed that they were going to starve to death. At the time, the dearth of edibles around them was more significant to them than the memories of the miracles that God had performed in order to get them out of Egypt in the first place. If they had stayed focused on the miracles, then they would have realized that God didn’t lead them into the wilderness to let them starve. Instead, however, they relegated the knowledge of the miracles to somewhere in the backs of their minds; even to the point of giving Moses sole credit (or blame) for leading them out of Egypt. It’s not surprising that they didn’t believe Moses could feed them. Still, when they called on Moses that they were hungry, Moses prayed to God, and God provided manna and quail. The word ‘manna,’ incidentally, comes from a Hebrew term meaning, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was, and we don’t really know what it was, either, but it apparently provided sufficient sustenance to the Hebrews. God seemed to be okay with them wanting it (to be honest, I think He may have been a little peeved, but He understands how we are). Some of the people starting eating quail as though they hadn’t had meat in months (okay, they hadn’t had meat in a few weeks, but they could have at least they could have been more polite about it). Many people died because of their gluttony.
The early church had a similar problem. There were times when the early church came together and took communion together. Some of the people in the church clearly exhibited some form of gluttony (even to the point of some church members were unable to take part in communion, because they ran out of unleavened bread). Apostle Paul took these people to task, essentially saying, don’t come to these gatherings half-starved; if necessary, eat something at home before you come to church, and be on your best behavior with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
In Proverbs, we are told that if one is at a meal, and one knows that one is given to appetite, that one should put a knife to one’s own throat as a reminder to not eat too much. I realize that we are under a new covenant, and we have a lot more freedom now as far as what we eat, but I tend to believe that we should still watch our appetites. We should be an example of the believers in all things, including how much we eat.
Jesus said that it’s not what goes into a person’s mouth that’s the problem; it’s what comes out of a person’s mouth. Of course, He said what, not how much. Too much of anything is a bad thing. I realize that a lot of people believe that if some is good, then more is better, but, generally, that doesn’t work out to be the case.
We know that, during the Exodus, Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt, with the intention of bringing them into the Promised Land, the Children of Israel became obsessed with what hey were going to eat. In some ways, that’s understandable, they were in the wilderness, there weren’t any obvious sources of food around them, they started getting hungry, and very quickly assumed that they were going to starve to death. At the time, the dearth of edibles around them was more significant to them than the memories of the miracles that God had performed in order to get them out of Egypt in the first place. If they had stayed focused on the miracles, then they would have realized that God didn’t lead them into the wilderness to let them starve. Instead, however, they relegated the knowledge of the miracles to somewhere in the backs of their minds; even to the point of giving Moses sole credit (or blame) for leading them out of Egypt. It’s not surprising that they didn’t believe Moses could feed them. Still, when they called on Moses that they were hungry, Moses prayed to God, and God provided manna and quail. The word ‘manna,’ incidentally, comes from a Hebrew term meaning, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was, and we don’t really know what it was, either, but it apparently provided sufficient sustenance to the Hebrews. God seemed to be okay with them wanting it (to be honest, I think He may have been a little peeved, but He understands how we are). Some of the people starting eating quail as though they hadn’t had meat in months (okay, they hadn’t had meat in a few weeks, but they could have at least they could have been more polite about it). Many people died because of their gluttony.
The early church had a similar problem. There were times when the early church came together and took communion together. Some of the people in the church clearly exhibited some form of gluttony (even to the point of some church members were unable to take part in communion, because they ran out of unleavened bread). Apostle Paul took these people to task, essentially saying, don’t come to these gatherings half-starved; if necessary, eat something at home before you come to church, and be on your best behavior with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
In Proverbs, we are told that if one is at a meal, and one knows that one is given to appetite, that one should put a knife to one’s own throat as a reminder to not eat too much. I realize that we are under a new covenant, and we have a lot more freedom now as far as what we eat, but I tend to believe that we should still watch our appetites. We should be an example of the believers in all things, including how much we eat.
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