Saturday, November 21, 2015

What change is needed? Food Part 1

This is one of those blog posts I never want to write. The post is not sad, nor relaying fear due to the turmoil in the world,  nor bad news in regard to the degradation of western civilization. Rather, it deals with public confession and accountability. These past few weeks, as I struggle with physical, financial, and emotional stresses due to the recent return of my seizures, I have begun to think more of the sins nobody ever talks about, examining aspects of my own life anew, and I don't like what I find.

Short of the example of my friend Jason, who at times I have felt defines gluttony with entirely too broad a brush, I don't recall hearing a single sentence, let alone a sermon, on how we ought to use food as Christians. While for some time I have surely gone beyond the bounds of "I eat to live", I have never felt that I have fallen into the pit called "I live to eat." and in this I have found comfort until recently. I have found ways to attempt to justify using my body as a kind of garbage disposal, to enjoy eating things that offer short lived satisfaction, yet in the end may well be detrimental to my overall health. Whether one likes the word "gluttony" or not, or even if I see my poor eating habits as definitively sinful or meeting the full definition of that dreaded term, I certainly do not always take good care of the temple of the Holy Spirit which is my body.



It was an odd circumstance that forced me to speak about this issue publicly. Indeed, Sara buys and prepares good quality, healthy food that I enjoy. In fact, it is not the overindulging in such food that is my problem. Rather, my problem is that I enjoy ingesting things that only in the last century were even considered to be food at all. We visited my primary care doctor today to discuss what was learned from my recent visit to the neurologist. We discussed medication, side effects, and explained the many facets of my daily routine that we have examined and changed to see if we can find out what is causing, or at least exacerbating, the seizure episodes.

After a long discussion of treatment options and what we are planning to do in case the seizures do not cease, my otherwise quite irreligious physician asked me about the spiritual side of my condition.  He read back to me the record of our previous discussion and I was surprised that he had noted our report that while the seizures often came at times of great stress in my life, this latest series of seizures has come at a  time when our marriage, relationship with family, living situation, and spiritual blessings are nearly without stress and indeed quite blessed!

The discussion continued to discuss whether my recent weight gain (5 lbs in 6 weeks) was due to my inability to exercise or other factors. While I was not excited about the way this lecture was going, he did not say anything to me about food and my personal responsibility for my health that I did not already know. Indeed, I have been thinking and praying about this issue more recently, and this is one of those classic battles between the flesh and the spirit. Some people struggle with drunkenness, sexual immorality and its relative sensual appetites. For me, the place where the flesh is weak is the area of those supplements that I add to my otherwise quite healthy diet. I am a candy addict! There, I said it!

They say that admitting the problem is the first step to recovery. I prefer to think of it more spiritually, and if God had to speak through my non-Christian physician to address a spiritual matter in my life, then evidently I have not been listening to that "still, small voice" or any of a host of other blazing neon signs that God in His providence and mercy has put in my path so much recently. The question now becomes "What change is needed?" to borrow from our Sunday School lesson. See my recent post for another practical application of this question. For now, we return to my own personal, well-guarded, hidden-where-nobody-ever-sees kind of sin.

Without dispute, there is much evidence at hand of the problem.

  • The human body needs food to live.
  • Not everything I ingest is food.
  • I have complicated health conditions that demand proper nourishment.
  • Provided that I eat properly nourishing food, there is no need for that which is not food.
  • My body, as a born again Christian, is a temple for the Holy Spirit.
  • That temple should be cared for and treated as holy, rather than as a garbage disposal.
  • Many health conditions are at least partially alleviated when removing poison from one's diet.
OK, I am about done with writing on that list. To be honest, the debating logician and apologist in me could, with one side of my brain tied behind my back, pummel any position for the continued excuse of "moderation" in the intake of items to my digestive tract that are indeed not food. Taking only the argument of the sufficiency of Scripture into evidence, I am convinced that when God created the Earth, that it provided for Adam and Eve EVERYTHING they needed to not only survive, but to thrive, to fill the earth and subdue it, in short to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

It is due to the obvious inconsistency of my own actions that I must speak. Those who have known me for any length of time have heard me debate and defend the sufficiency of Scripture, the need for personal holiness, and the need to apply Biblical truth to all aspects of life. I have spent hours arguing that the intake of media to our eyes, ears, even our very souls, that every thought must be taken captive to the obedience of Christ. I have argued educational methodology, presuppositional apologetics, the regulative principle of worship, and more all the while straining my eye to see beyond the plank that is so obviously impairing clear vision. I have been what I hate the most, an inconsistent Christian. 

I know to some this seems like a very small matter, but when you spend as many hours as I do defending a position, researching and writing publicly about absolute truth, when you find a flaw in your own reasoning, it has earth-shattering ramifications. I have been known to take things to their logical conclusion, and even beyond at times. If I were writing a sermon or article, I would tirelessly labor to expound not only what God's Word says on any issue, but I would say things that most would not dare to say if I genuinely believed God would be glorified as a result. I don't believe in protecting sacred cows, in fact I like them grilled medium rare with some kosher salt. It is immeasurably different however, to slaughter your own sacred cow. However, in order to be consistent I must tackle this one with as much vigor as I would anyone else's idolatrous bovine. 

Knowing this about myself, I am genuinely fearful of what I might find as I pursue this subject, and I won't be surprised if I offend more than a few people (myself, first of all) by the time this is over. As I write this, I find myself wishing to merely hit the "DELETE" key and hold it down forever. My wife, who often proofreads my posts before publishing, asked if I needed her to look this over. I told her "I will never let you or anyone read it!" Yet, I continue to sit here and write. I will overcome my inconsistency and encourage her to read this and ask for her insights. I will do so because I must. 

I have yet to put into words what must be done precisely to remedy my situation, yet I will do this when I have time. For now, we are headed out the door for a multi-day visit with friends. We have kids to dress, clothes to pack, phones to charge, a GPS to program, and more. To be honest, I am nearly exhausted even writing all this out, as I know once I publish this post all my readers will help me be accountable for what I have written. Before implementing my plan fully, I must continue to examine God's Word to see what the purpose of food is, how it is to be used properly, and how I must change. 

For now, the question remains only partially answered. What change is needed? As we said before, one must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. By God's grace and mercy, that eternal question has already been answered and applied by the illumination and regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and applied by the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ to wash away my sin, having paid my debt of sin in full. I am born again, made new and given new life through the work of Jesus Christ. Now I must continue on, to surrender every aspect of my thoughts and deeds to bring glory to my Savior, my Lord. I will meditate on these things in the intervening hours, possibly even days. I will begin to implement those things I already know to be right and necessary. I will pray and ask for wisdom and strength. In the flesh, I can do nothing of eternal significance. By God's grace, I hope to see Him glorified and more thoroughly and intimately enjoyed as I take up this challenge. 

To be continued....