By Sidharth Mohandas
Food that is Sanctified
Do we sincerely thank God for the food He gives us? I know I have not been doing this for a while [Oh yes, it’s easy to “show off” when you’re around other believers, but I’m talking about being really thankful for the food you receive].
“…meat, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.” [1 Timothy 4: 3-5]
When we receive our food with thanksgiving, Scripture tells us that it is sanctified by God’s word and our prayer. In other words, the food that you thank God for is made holy! Please remember this: to thank the Lord is to have faith that He will not give us anything that will harm us.
But he that doubts is condemned if he eats, because he eats not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. [Romans 14: 23]
Now, isn’t that a strong statement! If you can’t eat in faith, don’t eat! Have faith in His provision and thus glorify Him even while eating!
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. [1 Corinthians 10: 31]
Burnt Breads
How many of us sit down for dinner and complain because we didn’t have what we wanted? In my college mess hall we used to get burnt breads and I would immediately start grumbling… “Lord, why did you let them give me burnt breads? How can I thank You for this?”. I told my mom this and her words to me were: “Sidhu, don’t grumble and complain like the Israelites or you’ll be in the wilderness for 40 years”. Those words hit me after which I started thanking the Lord for the food and to my surprise the Lord intervened and I never got burnt bread anymore. Glory to God!
The American Tongue
Every year a group of Bible teachers from Pennsylvania come to India and teach us God’s Word. We have always been blessed by this. I remember one time when a man in this American group was invited by my friend for dinner. As we all know, most Americans can’t stand spicy dishes like the ones we have here in India. My friend took special care to use less spice in the food. But unfortunately when she tasted the food before serving, she felt it was still a bit too spicy for the American tongue. She gave thanks and served the food anyway, and started eating. Just then my friend leaned over and said to the man of God. “I think the food is too spicy for you…” The man looked straight at her and said, “Shut up, lady! I thought we thanked the Lord for it!”.
The Rebellious Body
My pastor once related how he and his friend traveled to a village in another country . The villagers gave them some of their delicacies. My pastor spit it out as soon as he put it into his mouth and he looked at his friend and saw that he was enjoying it. Later my pastor asked his friend how he could eat that stuff and he replied: “My body doesn’t tell me what to eat, I tell my body what I should eat”.
Let’s stop and examine our life… Do we glorify the Lord in eating? Do we consider the food that He gives us as holy? Do we let our body decide what we should eat? Has thanksgiving become a monotonous ritual that it has lost it’s meaning?
I’m so glad you wrote about this. I have been coming to the same conclusion in this last.
For a long time, I stopped praying before every meal, because it seemed so unnecessary. But there is something about prayer before a meal that completely alters the meal itself. When you are truly thankful for your food and pray thankfully for it, it makes the entire meal so much more enjoyable.
I typically have a very busy life, and it’s usually a struggle to sit down enjoy eating a meal at regular pace. I made the excuse that I hardly have time to sit down and eat the meal, so there’s no use taking any longer to pray about it. But that’s totally the opposite attitude we should have. We should look at our prayer of thanksgiving and prayers for spiritual nourishment as much important than satisfying our physical nourishment.
It’s a good reminder to be thankful. We seem to have rituals with this though. We don’t usually say grace before breakfast, or before a quick lunchtime sandwich. I think it’s important to maintain a grateful heart towards God whether we say grace or not. Paul was talking to the Jews who had major issues with food being ‘unclean’. The point is to be FREE! Eat what you like, as long as it doesn’t offend someone else.