Have you ever wondered what Jesus Christ meant when he told his followers to take no thought for what they ate or drank? Was he saying we could eat whatever we wanted, however much we wanted and whenever we wanted without any bad effects?
Temptation to over-indulge abound in our daily schedule from the calorie laden made-to-order coffee in the morning with a couple of donuts to put it down, a Biggie fries for lunch accompanied with a giant soda pop, chocolate for a snack, and ice cream after dinner. It’s not uncommon to see people living on such diets.
Should any of it matter if we are to take no thought for what we eat?
I suppose if we truly were not taking thought, it wouldn’t make a difference. But if the truth be known, people eat out of whack diets because they are taking thought—the wrong kind of thought.
A man trying to lose pounds asked me why he couldn’t eat several donuts every morning if he wasn’t supposed to take thought for what he ate. I asked him “Why would you ever eat so many donuts every morning? Why not skip them and eat something else?” He replied, “Because I really like donuts!”
My point was quickly realized. He loved those glazed confections. He was taking immense thought for what he ate, even though his attraction had become unconscious because of his long-running habit. Those donuts were like a god to him. He loved sugar! And that is taking thought! And is exactly what Jesus was counseling against.
When Jesus told us to take no thought, he didn’t mean eat and drink absent-mindedly and without moderation or temperance. He was instructing his followers to avoid making a god out of food.
There is one God, the divine Spirit, and to truly love Spirit, we can’t be in love with sugar, greasy foods, soda pop or even lettuce.
When we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll know what we’re truly worshipping. Is our thought focused on God or food?
I find it helpful to keep attention centered on understanding God better and truly valuing spiritual mindedness above gastronomical indulgence when making food choices.
I don’t follow any diet plan according to accredited dieticians, because that would be taking excess thought too. But I test my choices by asking, “Can I not eat this and still be happy?” Or “Can I eat vegetables and fruit and be just as happy as eating a dessert?”
Ideally, we eat what is put before us. But we must be sure it’s not gluttony and dishonesty that is piling our plate high with food we don’t need.
good food for thought! thanks for posting this
I wrote “Can I not eat this and still be happy?” on a post-it note and stuck it on my kitchen table today. I think it might help!
I have given this a lot of thought, too, and have concluded that we can also make sugar (or fried foods, or whatever is deemed “bad” by nutritionists) into a God by purposely avoiding them. But I think the most common food idolatry is eating when we’re not actually hungry. Humans seem to eat for so many other reasons – boredom, emotional upset, to be sociable, etc. When I woke up to this and stopped eating for the wrong reasons, I naturally lost weight and have never gained it back. And I don’t avoid any particular foods, unless I just plain don’t like them!
“When Jesus told us to take no thought, he didn’t mean eat and drink absent-mindedly and without moderation or temperance. He was instructing his followers to avoid making a god out of food.”
Dear Evan, comments like this are really bugging me. How can you know what Jesus meant? Aren’t you really saying this is how you intepret this saying attributed to Jesus?
To anon above,
Yes, fair enough, it is my intrepretation of what Jesus meant. That’s the nature of a blog, I understand… It’s what I have seen in his teachings. And you may have a different view that is equally worthy of consideration.
Much love,
Dear Evan,
Iam interested in knowing, what truth Jesus fed on for forty days and forty nights while he was fasting? Was he fasting from material food? Did he eat any material food or drink any liquids?
Did this affect his material body,as far as causing him to loose weight? I have seen some ministers fast from food and water, and wondered if this was a healthy thing to do?
The implication of the story is that Jesus did not eat any material food during that time span. In the end, he felt hungry and was tempted to turn whatever was available, rocks in this case, into food to eat. But following through with the spiritual lessons he was learning, he saw even more clearly that it’s not material food that sustains life, but God.
Details that your questions ask for are not outlined in the story, but I’d guess that he was still strong and able after the fasting.
Even though he was not eating material food, he was not fasting from material food, so much as from material beliefs. It’s a different kind of fasting than the ministers you refer to.
Wonderful thoughts on this topic.
Thanks, Evan and all who commented on the blog.
Love the idea, but I don’t see how a mom can actually practice taking no thought for what to feed her children for dinner. Jesus’ words were directed to his disciples as they were about to embark on a missionary journey around the known world, which included areas where people ate things such as pork, shellfish, and other strange things that went against the Jewish kosher laws found in the Hebrew Bible.
I often find myself confronting thoughts of convenience, expense, naturalness, nutritive value, variety, etc. when I am preparing food for my family.
I’ve also been reading Weston Price nutritional advice, and it seems to me that, seeing as 95% of Americans have dental decay, and getting braces is a badge of American adolescence, (and according to Weston Price this is a sign of physical degeneration rooted in malnourishment), I ought to try feeding my kids something other than the Standard American Diet. And that takes a lot of thought!
I agree, that it might take “a lot of thought” to come out and be separate from entrenched bad eating habits that result from attraction to sugar, caffeine, gluttony, fat, etc. But you will find that as thought is truly demonstrating spiritual dominion over the body and appetite, you’ll make wiser food choices without a lot of thought. It will be easier to reject the junk food that brings no genuine satisfaction and feel more normal and right to eat food that doesn’t have such a bad effect.