Food For Thought

The Eternal Diet

What does our diet have to do with Jesus and eternity?  Well let’s consider that the answer lies in abstract way of thinking called analogies which Jesus used in the form of “parables” with many of his teachings.  Ironically, many philosophers through the ages were abstract thinkers and also used analogies.  One main difference between the Philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato who even taught their students how to “think” abstractly and Jesus was that Jesus often made analogical comparisons between earthy things which his students could relate to and the things of God and Heaven which they could not relate to as easily or at all.

Food for Thought

Sometimes the things that are really good for us we avoid like the plague.  Better said, the things that are often bad for us we run to even though it could have plague like effects on our lives.  This includes situations that are bad for us, food that is bad for us, drinks that are bad for us and even people who are bad for us.  The things that are good for us we avoid.

So if I were to compare “food” to “truth” it would be considered an analogy.

“The truth is like healthy food. Most people run from it and get offended if you try to force them to eat it.  They have to make the decision to eat it for themselves.”

In the early years of my adulthood I drank a lot of soft drinks, and ate a lot of unhealthy foods.  My skin was pale, I got sick several times a year, and the sugar and citric acid in the soft drinks caused cavities.  In my late 20’s I cut back to around 3 soft drinks a day and by my mid 30’s there were weeks where I stopped drinking them all together or cut back to one a day.  In the last few years I have significantly changed my diet in a healthier direction.  I remember my parents fussing at me for the way I ate and about all the soft drinks.  I was hard headed and did what I wanted, thinking I knew better.  This was only compounded by people who said such things as “I will die one day anyway, so why not eat and drink what I want?”.  Also, when you’re young, you are not thinking about death or about feeling good and healthy in the golden years of old age.  You are in the "here and now".  What does it matter if you die of a heart attack when you’re only 60 years old if that is 40 years away?

For some of us, it takes a while for the word “death” to sink in.  It takes us a while to desire “healthy” things and to recognize the food, drinks and “other things” that are hurting us physically, mentally, and even spiritually.  There are times when we blame others, but after we become adults, it’s time to take responsibility for our actions and change them.  This is nothing that someone can convince us of, but something we must chose for ourselves.  However, when you reach that pivoting point in your life, like me, you will probably look back and see the people who loved you and tried to help you by giving you good advice that you threw their wisdom  away.

Seeds of Wisdom

“Being a novice gardener, I’ve noticed that the seeds I plant do not always come up.  Sometimes they’ve been planted in the wrong season, sometimes they’ve not been watered enough, sometimes I’ve planted them too deep in the soil, or maybe too shallow; sometimes the soil was either too fertilized or not fertilized enough and sometimes there were just too many other seeds in the soil such as various grasses and undesired weeds that overpowered the seeds and chocked out the plants as they tried to come up.  I will not let it bother me though, I will keep planting the seeds and try to learn more about gardening and one day the seeds I plant will come up and prosper.  On that day, I will be very happy.”

The key to successful analogies and parables is connecting with the audience.  Back in the day of Jesus everyone was familiar with gardening and so there were a lot of parables about seeds and the harvest which played an important part in everyday life.  Also, water did not just flow out of faucets like our modern day water sources, people had to visit the an open well on a daily basis.  Basically food and water was at the very front of their minds.  That’s why Jesus was such a genius in his teachings, well, that and because He was God.  He took ideas that people could relate to and transferred them into eternal truths.

The Israelites were Thirsty

Getting water wasn’t an easy a task when the Israelites left slavery behind for their mass Exodus into the wilderness.  There were times when they lost their faith and actually desired to go back to slavery and considered it an easier and more desired path in life.  Going back into slavery was considered easier than the freedom that was right in front of them.

In Exodus 17:3 we see that:

“But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?””

In Matthew 5:6 we find that Jesus said:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “

So here he is describing those who are hungry for God; he is telling us that God is available for them.  For only God is righteous.  Only God is Holy.  Only God is perfect.  This is a promise that those who hunger and search for the “true food and water; eternity” that they will have it.

David Thirsted for God

“I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.”

~Psalm 143:6

If it’s true that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled than imagine a man who was so thirsty for God that he equated his thirst for God to a parched land?  When the land is dry and the rains come the land will soak it right up.  If you read the Psalm’s of David, you will see that David thirsted for God probably more than anyone else in the Bible.  He talked with God on a regular basis.  He not only talked to God, but he often “cried out” to God.

Likewise, David was a man after God’s own heart and it was through the decedents of David that God brought us the Messiah, Jesus.  A man after God’s own heart possibly because he thirsted for God like a parched land.

“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

“From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.”

~Acts 13:22-26 (NIV)

Eternal Life Giving Water and Food

““Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.””

~John 4:11-15

Again, Jesus with the parables relating to thirst, he approached a Samaritan women at a well.  Jews normally didn’t associate with Samaritans and this particular Samaritan was offered the same eternal life that Jesus offered the Jews.  This particular woman had a very sinful past (and present), neither was she a Jew, yet the Lord offered her the same gift that he offered his own people:  water with eternal life attached.  This analogy tells us that eternal life is available to even the worst sinners of all nations.

The Path is through Jesus, the Son of God

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

~John 6:35

Once again, Jesus tells us through the use of an analogy that believing in him can quench our “spiritual” hunger and thirst for all of eternity.

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”

~John 7:37

Famines of Spiritual Food and Water

““The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.”

~Amos 8:11

There have been times of spiritual famine throughout the modern age.  According to scripture there is a very large famine coming.  There is going to be a time of great falling away from God’s Church.  This will be a time filled with evil and false prophets who water down and twist the Word of God.  It will be a time when fewer and fewer people are going to church and beign productive members of society.  It will be a time when people think they are empathetic to others yet they will not even have the strength to help themselves with their own issues much less help others with theirs.  The unhealthy spiritual food given out during this phase of history is unhealthy and will be no substitute for the real food that Jesus has promised is available to all of us.  In one line of thinking one might argue that it’s of no fault of our own that God brought a famine and we didn’t hear the word of God, but a more solid argument would be that we brought on the famine in our lives by accepting an unhealthy substitute of food instead of the real eternal life giving food that God offers.  Despite all the deception and all the false prophets in the world, there are still plenty of Bible’s and there is plenty of time to read, and plenty of time to pray to God for discernment and wisdom and enlightenment during dark times.  We are still able to pray and to seek God’s face.  It is our choice to be distracted with other things.  It’s our choice to hang out with people who constantly commit blasphemy against God and try to side track you from Him.

What Amos was speaking of wasn’t the first and it will not be the last time famines have spread throughout the world.  God did not provide the famine that Amos is speaking of.  Society is getting further and further off the true path.  Even though statistically there are a decent percentage of people who say they believe in God, we can tell by the “fruits” of society that something is very wrong.  I’m convinced that we’ve brought this famine on ourselves.  However, one by one, we have a choice every day to get things headed back in the right direction.

The Free Gift of Life

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

~Revelation 21:6

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

~Revelation 22:17

Don’t Run from the Truth

“The truth can hurt at first, but it can also set you free and afterwards bring health and happiness.  We are responsible for our own actions.”

Sometimes we run from the food that is good for us and substitute those things that are bad for us.  The bad food tastes very good, but long term it will clog our arteries, slow down our mental functions and ultimately kill us.  How many times have we run from the truth?  So many times.  The truth makes us uncomfortable.  When it is spoken we ignore it.  We run to the “bad foods”.  Let’s accept that we are responsible for our own actions and search after the “good food”.

Be True to the End

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

~Matthew 24:12-16

Eat your Broccoli

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.”

~1 Corinthians 3:1-3

When we were kids we did not like healthy food.  We despised and ran from even the smell of Broccoli (insert other disliked healthy food here).  Likewise, even the smell of truth can make us uncomfortable and we dodge it like the plague.  When we hear it we will often close off our ears and our hearts.  If it’s a book, we will often quit reading it.  If it’s a friend, we will stop hanging out with them and even cut off the relationship.  If it's a family member, we will dodge them.  If it’s a speech or sermon, we will either get up and leave instantly, close off our ears or we will not go back to listen to that person again.”

It’s time to grow up and start eating and drinking healthy life giving food and water.  Seek God’s face and He will show it to you in his Word, the Bible.  It can’t be forced upon you.  It’s your choice to eat the healthy foods of God or the unhealthy foods of this world.

This bible says that everyone knows in their heart that there is a God.   If this is true, and I believe it is, then there is no excuse.  It’s a choice.  If we’ve been exposed to it, then it’s a choice.  We have a chance every day to make a choice for a better lifestyle and a better eternity.  It’s time to extend our life into the next.