Food and Faith

Three years ago, I bought a FitBit. I diligently recorded every mouthful I ate on the FitBit app, and tracked steps and weight. I knew that I needed to get in shape. Doctors had told me in no uncertain terms that getting down to a healthy weight was the best thing I could do to reduce the chances of a recurrence of the cancer I had in 2015. 

My good intentions lasted a year. 

From time to time, I have picked up where I left off. My FitBit app shows me that over the past three years, despite some impressive ups and downs, my net weight loss amounts to 700 grams. 

Yes, this is yet another blog post about a middle-aged woman’s efforts to live a healthy lifestyle. If you choose to read it, please be assured that I am NOT sitting in judgement of anybody who, like me, struggles with weight. I am well aware that there are a myriad of reasons for why we find ourselves in these predicaments. I am preaching to one woman and one woman only … myself.

An inspiring book

I’m currently reading an inspiring book. I’m not quite ready to recommend it, having only read six of the 19 chapters, but it has got me thinking. This blog post isn’t a book review. Nor am I regurgitating the contents of the book. I’m simply giving credit where credit is due. The book that has stimulated my thinking is ‘Made to Crave’ by Lysa TerKeurst, published by Zondervan in 2010. 

The Bible, of course, is even more inspiring when it comes spurring us on to live well. It does not talk about dieting in the sense that we think of ‘diets’ today. Mind you, there were some pretty strict dietary laws given to ancient Jews, and there are plenty of instructions and examples given concerning both fasting and feasting. To my surprise, I realise now that there is also quite a bit written about people’s healthy … or unhealthy … relationships with food in the Bible. Chewing over this idea in a metaphorical sense could well be the missing ingredient in my ‘battle with the bulge’. 

A shocking verse

“They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved” Psalm 78:18 NIV.

What? I couldn’t believe that the author of ‘Made to Crave’ would take a random verse and apply it to weight loss efforts! 

Like a good Bible student, I went to the Good Book to examine the context. It turns out that the ancient Israelites did indeed put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. The context was an account of the Jewish desert wanderings. Yes, there was more to it than just the food issue. But the fact that they tested God by demanding the food they craved is indeed significant. 

So then, like an educated Bible student, I checked out the Hebrew word translated in that verse as ‘crave’. What I learnt literally made me gasp in astonishment. The Hebrew word translated ‘to crave’ is actually ‘nephesh’ –  the same word that is often translated as ‘soul’ or ‘living being’. When the word ‘nephesh’ is attached to the word for ‘food’, it has the sense of drawing life from that food, or ‘craving’ food. No wonder God was upset at the ancient Israelites’ demands for the food they craved and interpreted it as a willful test of his Lordship. Instead of drawing their identity and life from their God, they longed for tasty tucker.

Enemy tactics

The writer of the book ‘Made to Crave’ also makes a big deal of 1 John 2:15-16 – “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world” (NIV).

Again, I thought, “Pfft – over-spiritualising food choices, she is.”  And again, I dug into the Scriptures.  And yes, there is a lot more in 1 John than just deciding what we eat. And I very much doubt that the aged apostle John had dieting in mind when he penned those words. 

So why did John write this way? We actually know why with 100% clarity. Immediately before giving those early Christians these instructions, John set out his reasons for writing to them. He aimed to assure his readers that they belonged to God and had overcome the evil one (1 John 2:12-14).

That was then. This is now. The enemy’s tactics are the same. How does the Evil One try to lure us to himself and keep us from us ‘overcoming the world’? According to this passage, his tactics are three-pronged: (1) the lust of the flesh, (2) the lust of eyes and (3) the pride of life. 

An ancient strategy

Lysa TerKeurst, the writer of the book I’m reading, points out that this three-pronged approach is as ancient as the Garden of Eden. When Eve was considering whether or not to succumb to temptation, she  “… saw that the fruit of the tree was (1) good for food and (2) pleasing to the eye, and also (3) desirable for gaining wisdom….” (Genesis 3:6).   (I added in the numbers to correlate with the three tactics of the evil one, listed above, as outlined above and in 1 John 2:15-16.)  

Millenia later, Jesus, who was referred to as ‘the last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45-48), would face the same three-pronged temptation. Would he (1) turn stones into bread (succumb to the lust of the flesh), (2) accept from Satan the kingdoms in all their splendour (succumb to the lust of the eyes), or (3) command angels to save him after throwing himself off the temple (succumb to the pride of life)?  

‘Lust of the flesh,’ the first tactic of the enemy, surely covers a lot more territory than just an unhealthy relationship with food. And yet food is clearly an issue, as exemplified by the temptations of both Eve and Jesus. And, let’s be honest here, craving unhealthy food is my temptation as well, rather than other more exotic forms of ‘lust of the flesh’. 

Clearly, the bottom line is that I need to crave a life-giving relationship with my Lord rather than with anything else … unhealthy food choices, in particular. But that is easier said than done. 

Reasons and excuses

I’m the first to recognise that weight issues can be physical.  For years, I blamed a ‘sluggish thyroid’ for being sleepy, slow and chubby.  (As an aside, my thyroid has picked up the pace now that gluten is out of my diet.) And then there are nutritional deficits that cause us to crave certain foods.  I once heard that chocolate contains magnesium, which is why we sometimes just HAVE to have chocolate. I see nothing wrong with a square of dark chocolate now and then. It’s consuming the whole bar that is the issue. 

Emotional factors are also an obvious culprit for us craving certain foods. I have always equated chocolate with reward, comfort and love. In fact, I was once a little girl who was small enough to climb through a ‘doggy door’ to help an elderly neighbour who had walked out without her keys. (I thought the neighbour was elderly at the time … she was probably not ancient at all, actually.) The kind lady rewarded me with a whole block of chocolate … I felt like a millionaire!

And then there is the frantic pace of life that many of us embrace these days. Who has time to shop and chop and cook and clean? Surely a successful modern woman has better things to do?  Yes, yes, I know … there are plenty of healthy options that are quick and easy, and yes, we don’t have to be quite so busy……

So how do we overcome the ‘lust of the flesh’ when it comes to making good food choices?

Overcoming

Managing our minds is surely a big part of the answer. Scripture is full of instructions and exhortations to meditate on God, his work and his Word. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are urged to think about what is good and noble and right. We are told to take every thought captive to Christ. So why don’t we just DO it? 

I don’t want to make excuses for my own failure to get in shape, but I honestly don’t think it is all our fault. We are not alone … we live in an age where obesity is more of a problem than ever in some parts of the world, including Australia. Supermarkets are full of artificial foods that have been engineered to last a long time and maximise profits. Our health hasn’t been the highest priority for those who make this stuff. Highly paid professionals design packaging and advertising which hooks us into buying products that we know full well aren’t good for us. Certain foods are said to be somewhat addictive, meaning that we keep buying more. I could go on and on, but I think you get my drift. 

The Evil One is alive and well, and is messing with God’s good creation. He tries to lure us away from God through ‘the ‘lust of the flesh’ (as well as ‘the lust of the eyes’ and ‘the pride of life’ … topics beyond the scope of this post). The temptation of ‘living to eat’ rather than ‘eating to live’ is only one of his tactics, but it is one I know well. 

Lent

I don’t usually do anything special for Lent.  The forty day period preceding Resurrection Sunday in the Christian calendar reminds us of the forty day period of Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness before overcoming Satan. It also harks back to the forty years of the ancient Jews’ wandering in the desert … those same people who had demanded food they craved and so tested the Lord. 

This year, however, I have a resolution. I do not plan to give up chocolate … after all, chocolate contains magnesium. I don’t plan to rule out festive foods either … even though Lent is the season for fasting rather than feasting. But I do plan to be a lot more mindful about what I eat and when. I’m talking about ‘managing my mind’. 

Throughout Lent, with God’s help, whenever I find myself craving an unhealthy food, I plan to consciously stop that train of thought and turn my attention to the one who is the giver of all good things. I want to draw my source of life from the origin of life itself. 

And then, after using the craving as a prompt for worship, I shall make a sensible choice about whether or not to enjoy a treat. 

I would say, ‘Watch this space’ to see whether or not I stick to my good intention, but it would be more apt to say, ‘Watch this waist’. 

Days 1 and 2 of Lent are over as I write these words. There are 38 more days to go. 

I hope that’s long enough to establish a healthy habit for life.