by Rick Marcus
CLIO, MI – There is something about food, it’s enjoyable, satisfying, comforting and nostalgic. It connects people, cultures, families, friends, and brings people together. Many of our celebrations and traditions are surrounded by specialty foods… Cake for Birthdays, Turkey for Thanksgiving, Candy for Easter, Valentines, Halloween and Paczki’s for Fat Tuesday. The list keeps going. If there’s a tradition, there is a food.
We all have a favorite and we all need it to live… but sometimes we live for it. The joke has been for years that we as Baptists have taken this food thing to the next level… with a good ole pot-luck.
Food also creates problems, with the fact that it is necessary for life, food can easily become an addiction. If we are honest food has become an acceptable addiction and with that acceptance and the necessity, it’s a very hard addiction to step away from. A good thing has become too much of a good thing.
I personally know this struggle and the freedom God can bring from this sin. I could go deeper with this, but I want to look at food more on the spiritual side as the church.
Scripture many times compares food and the Word of God. We read this in passages such as:
'Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, LORD God of Armies." (Jeremiah 15:16)
"How sweet Your word is to my taste — sweeter than honey in my mouth." (Psalm 119:103)
"...nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed." (1 Timothy 4:6b)
Church, with the comparison of food and God’s Word, I want to ask us a few things.
How is our food consumption? Are we in the Word, allowing it to nourish us?
Has the Word become tradition? We consume it as we gather together and we consume it on our own, but is consumption as far as it goes?
Do we take in more and more of the Word, but do nothing with it? Does It produce little to no energy, do we consume and then sit actionless?
Are we spiritually obese?
Of course, the Word is to be consumed. However, we are to do something with it. We should be fed by the word, propelled and energized to take action.
"But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." (James 1:22)
Church, may we not be spiritually obese, but fit in Jesus! May we not be known for our potlucks and knowledge about food, but may Jesus be made known by a church that is taking action in response to His Word.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Marcus is Pastor of City Church in Clio, where he serves alongside his wife Rachel and their 4 kids. City Church is 1 of 3 Re-plants in the BSCM. God is at work in Re-planting Churches all over North America through your NAMB support.
For more info about Re-Planting please reach out to Tony Lynn.
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