Food

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”– John 4:34 (ESV) 

Food is meant to give us strength and energy to accomplish our earthly work. We need food to live. That’s probably one reason why all four Gospels have recorded the miracle of Jesus feeding multitudes (5000 men, not including women and children). This need is universal. Man or woman, young or old, all need food to live. Food is our fuel. God has created us and designed this needy desire. New-born babies naturally crave mama’s breastmilk. A full-term baby is born with the sucking reflex. As the baby grows, she will explore other solid foods, open for anything you put in front of her. This is the crucial time to develop a taste and delight for real food, rather than highly processed or packaged junk food. 

Children who grow up in different cultures or homes will have different food preferences. Interestingly, children learn different table manners accordingly, as eating is supposed to be more of a social activity. Food is best enjoyed and shared with other people! When you have a good number of people dining together happily, you have a feast!  Food can mean very different things to different people at different times. Adam and Eve were given every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it (Genesis 1:29). God established the basis for human food. Man sinned. Sin has its ugly destructive consequences and can only get worse without a Savoir. God loves us so much and always provides redemptive plans as we come back to Him. After the earth-wide catastrophic flood (recorded in Genesis 9), God gave Noah permission to eat meat, in addition to plants. 

As to why God has given humans permission to eat meat, there are different discussions on this matter. Some say God gave meat as food due to the lack of vegetation after the flood, while others believe meat can supplement the loss of nutritions in plants due to the flood. I am not even attempting to get into the scholastic discussions here with just one post. However, as a Christ-following busy mother, I just want to point out one thing that is very clear: our loving Father always provides generously for what we need! He has designed our bodies to consume and thrive on many kinds of food and has provided abundantly through His creation. Most importantly, the Father has given us His only Son, Jesus, as the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God for our sins. Jesus taught us to eat His flesh and drink His blood as a metaphor. We are to put our trust in Jesus, our ultimate spiritual food, for eternal life! 

If we are clear on our eternal destiny, we are good to go further and talk about our earthly food. Otherwise, no matter how good or healthy the food you have here on earth, if you don’t have Jesus, eternal judgment still awaits when you die. Let this sobering thought sink in a bit as we all shall die one day, assuming Jesus does not return before we die. Do you live to eat or eat to live? Is the stomach your god?  Why do you eat and live? Have you allowed physical needs, pleasures or worldly pursuits to become more urgent and important than eternal spiritual matters? Those questions keep coming to my mind by the mercy of God. As a homesteader, we interact with food, and its planting, harvesting, preservation, preparation and presentation all the time. It is very easy to get distracted without the anchor of the truly important spiritual food. 

On the other hand, we are missing the point if we are deceiving or short-changing ourselves by ignoring the importance of real food. Unfortunately, when a whole culture is deceived, it is very hard to have the discernment to step out of the vicious cycle. The Standard American Diet (SAD) has not only crept into the church, but in some ways I can even say Satan has used the ignorance of the church as a breakthrough to cheat, steal, kill and destroy. Well-intentioned church members or organization leaders have welcomed and prized the toxic and addictive junk food to please the crowd, especially the defenseless children. It’s not hard to find vending machines loaded with junk (notice: I simply can’t call “junk” as food) appearing at churches or Christian schools! Awkwardly, if you are health-conscious or have no allergy issues, you might feel out of place. This is not right, especially with God’s Holy people at the Father’s house. It’s a battle not simply with our health but with the mind and soul.  

Let’s go back to the basics again. What is food? King James Bible translates “food” as “meat”. We can easily assume “meat eaters” eat just the “meat” we know without understanding the background or context. The word “meat” has a narrower meaning nowadays, limited only to animal flesh as food good for protein. Little babies or toddlers start to explore the world by putting everything into their mouths. It’s a parent’s job to keep our environment safe and guide the little children on what is good or what is bad. Traditionally, Jewish children start their education with the Book of Leviticus, the third and central book of Torah (or the Law). God’s chosen people are to be set apart, even though we are not limited to Kosher dietary restrictions. Our freedom in our food choices needs to be exercised with wisdom and caution to honor God and express love to others. As a born-again Christian, we are not to judge other people’s food choices and are able to give up our food freedom to lift up another’s faith. This loving principle to not stumble others also applies to other aspects of life choices or decisions. 

What first comes to your mind when “food” is mentioned?  A few of your favorite meals may start appearing in your head along with people dining with you. In this case, food usually gives you a warm and happy feeling, unless you just had a big meal, feeling stuffed already. This happens more often than I would like to admit in our home. It’s wonderful when food does more than just nourishing the body! Embrace those heart-warming, mouth-watering family meal memories! They are your love bank to encourage you to go back home and to inspire you to fly further away. If you are an adventurous eater, you may even connect different types of food with different people groups or cultures.  As you venture out, you make adjustments as you explore life by faith. Just remember Jesus was also judged by whom He was dining with or eating with unwashed hands. 

Don’t worry about perfection as you try to eat healthy (for God’s glory) or make friends with people from different backgrounds. Simple things are not always so easy. It takes time to change, to communicate and to understand. In Mark 7:18-19, Jesus says, “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can make them unclean? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” God cares about our hearts, not our outward performances. How we view food in general or certain food can be so ingrained in our upbringing. We take it for granted for things we do all the time without much thinking. We can offer things we like without knowing how offensive it can be to another culture. We are tempted to cast judgment on others who consume “strange food” in our eyes. Out of stereotype, we may even label certain food as “poor man’s food” without knowing their royal treatments in another culture or setting. If we dig deeper, so many of our values are related to how we view food.

In this fast-paced world, we can simply open a packaged “food” without reading the ingredient list. Most of the time, we probably have no desire to know what is actually in the “food” (if you can still call something even living microbes do not attempt to eat “food”). Modern busy people are easy prey for an “easy” or “convenient” way out (read my testimony with the dishwasher). Before I was saved by my Lord Jesus Christ, I was a slave to my own flesh. I chose quick easy fixes without much conviction. Thankfully, now the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of me will remind and guide me even for what I eat or drink for the Lord and His glory. He loves me too much to leave me where I am and continues to pursue me, shape me for His use. 

As a sinless man of God, Jesus has the most healthy relationship with the food he has created. Food, like money, air, water and other created things, are merely used to advance His kingdom for the Father’s glory. He did not worship food, or abuse food. No overeating or picky-eater issues for Jesus. During that time, food was not as convenient or abundant as nowadays. Chinese people, especially the older generations, like to greet each other by saying “Have you eaten?” (你吃过了吗?) It is true people who have gone through famine truly understand both hunger and satisfaction. Thus, food, in Bible times, is more likely to be associated with a deep and joyful satisfaction in life. 

When Jesus told his puzzled disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work”, He knew his friends need some faith boost more than the physical food. Do you know about this type of mystery food Jesus is talking about? What food satisfies you the most? What are you hungry for? Have you tasted and seen how good the LORD is? “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). May the Lord wet our appetite for the feast of the Lamb.  

As we celebrate the freedom we still enjoy in America, as we fellowship with our loved ones, let us rejoice over the food He has made, and remind each other of a greater Kingdom and feast to come! The Heavenly banquet invitation has a seat for you as well (one of the back to the land post). Are you coming? 

If you have a good appetite, more Food for thought:  

Verse study for John 4:34 

John Piper’s answer to Isn’t Veganism Closer to God’s Original Design?

The KJV and the changing use of words: Meat and Corn