Don’t Touch That
In the beginning, man was warned not to touch a certain food or disastrous consequences would happen:
Genesis 2:16-17 – And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Man defied God and paid the consequences. Now, some 6000+ years later, man starts each new year warning themselves not touch certain foods or there will be disastrous consequences. Of course, the disaster of increasing one’s waistband is not as serious as the physical and spiritual death which resulted from the first poor choice.
Food choices seem to haunt many and there are many solutions. Some individuals who claim we should follow a pre-flood diet, eating only vegetables. However, as part of the New Covenant in Christ, man was given the blessing of being authorized by God to eat bacon and other meats:
Mark 7:18-19 – And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) [ESV]
I Timothy 4:3-4 – Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
On another extreme, some instruct others to eat whatever and as much as they want, but to counteract the gluttony with diet pills. Gluttony is not smiled upon in scripture.
Deuteronomy 21:20 – And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
Proverbs 23:21 – For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Proverbs 28:7 – Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son; But he that is a companion of gluttons shameth his father.
Titus 1:12 – One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.
So gluttony countered by diet pills, this too is doomed to fail. Is there a Biblical solution? Why yes, of course, God has given us all we need to tackle the diet dilemma.
2 Peter 1:2-3 – Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue;
The call to action harkens back to the beginning. Where did Adam and Eve fail? They failed to control their behavior. No one forced them to partake of the forbidden fruit. They made the conscious decision to do something which was detrimental to body and soul. Self control is fruit of the spirit:
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.
It is not a miraculous gift, but an attribute of man subjecting himself fully to God. Paul spoke of the need for self control and Felix was afraid.
Acts 24:25 – And as he reasoned of righteousness, and self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me.
A lack of self control is what individuals must fear and correct. Embrace self control now and rejoice in God.