I believe that God is the center of the universe and as Romans 11:36 says: "..from Him and through Him and to Him are all things." I try to live my life in a way that reflects this. God is more important than anything else in my life.... that includes family, friends, music, food, and anything else I think is enjoyable. He is worthy of all praise and adoration. Anything and everything I do is to be done for His glory.
1Corinthians 10:31--So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Do I eat and drink for the glory of God? Certainly not! I, personally speaking, eat and drink to cover up my emotions, to find satisfaction outside of God. How foolish!
I've often heard people talk about how our spiritual and physical selves are closely related. I've seen the evidence of this in my own life and in others. When I workout and eat right, when I am organized in my daily living, I find it's easier for me to pray and read God's Word. And, when I pray and read God's Word daily, I find it easier to eat right, exercise and keep things in proper order.
The quote in the title of this blog is from John Piper. I am currently reading his book: "A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Prayer and Fasting." John Piper has helped me understand fasting and its place in a Christian's life. He says "My aim and my prayer in writing this book is that it might awaken a hunger for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. Fasting proves the presence, and fans the flames, of that hunger. It is an intensifier of spiritual desire It is a faithful enemy of fatal bondage to innocent things. It is a physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence. 'This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!'" I don't want to be in bondage to something as innocent as hunger. I want to fully and wholeheartedly serve my Lord and Savior.
I don't want to have "nibbled so long at the table of the world" that I become "stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." (Piper). It's time to get my mind on God and off myself. I want to eat and drink for the glory of God, not the satisfaction of myself!
"Self-indulgence is the enemy of gratitude, and self-discipline usually its friend and generator. That is why gluttony is a deadly sin. The early desert fathers believed that a person's appetites are linked: full stomachs and jaded palates take the edge from our hunger and thirst for righteousness. They spoil the appetite for God."--Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
"This, then, is the philosophy of fasting. It expresses repentance, and it uncovers the life to God. 'Come down, my pride; stand back my passions; For I am wicked, and I wait for God to bless me.'"--Phillips Brooks
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This is well-written.
ReplyDeleteI love to remind myself that food and drink are shadows of God's radiance and glory. The same goes for marriage, family, art, music, nature and so on. Our pleasures in this life in physical things are pictures of what we do and, one day, will fully enjoy about Christ, in his presence. Piper also says elsewhere, "Bread exists so that we might understand what Jesus means when he calls Himself the bread of life."