How To Care For A Rolls Royce

I had lunch recently with some new friends, at a new church, related to my wife's new appointment as the church's organist.   The initial topic of our chat, 'caught me off guard': the usual food fare at the church's social events.   "It's all 'the wrong stuff,'" one of our new friends noted.  "All unhealthy stuff; stuff you shouldn't eat!  Yet we 'serve it up' in whopping portions, blessing it in Jesus' name. 

With that, I remembered observations Dr. Daniel Amen made after visiting his church one Sunday.  "...As I walked toward the sanctuary I passed hundreds of hundreds of donuts for sale for charity; then walked by bacon and sausage cooking on the grill and started to feel really irritated; then passed hundreds of hot dogs being prepared for after church; as I found a seat the minister was talking about the ice cream festival they had the night before.   I was so frustrated that when my wife found me in church I was typing on my phone, which she absolutely hates and she gave me that look that only your wife can give you that said, “Why are you on that thing in church!?” Then I showed her what I was writing:  “Go to church .... get donuts ... bacon ... sausage ... hot dogs ... ice cream.  They have no idea they are sending people to heaven EARLY!”  Dr. Daniel Amen, "Holy Unhealthy Eating!  How To Stop Churches From Sending People To Heaven Early."  Huffington Post, December 21, 2011.

Ouch!  But poor, unhealthy eating is a blind spot for most churches -- and frankly -- most believers.  And so there is a need to be addressed, for as Ecclesiastes 10:17 notes, “Blessed are you O land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness”.   Frankly, such admonition applies not only to princes but to each of us.  For blessing only comes, as we learn to eat: at a proper time – for strength – and not for drunkenness.

But how is that done?  For starters ask two questions. Why do I eat what I eat? And secondly, what would Jesus eat?

In reality, most eat what their families ate, not what Jesus ate.   For example my family always put sugar on cereal; I mean the box could say Sugar Pops but we still ‘piled it on’.  So until I got married and got some sense, guess what: I always put sugar on my cereal.

What are your eating habits; specifically: what are your bad eating habits?  It’s amazing to discover the eating habits of Jesus.  Whereas we favor a high sugar, high fat, high salt, low fiber diet.  Jesus favored a diet consisting of whole fruits and vegetables, whole-grain bread, fish, a little kosher meat, and some dairy products.  In actuality, the diet of Jesus was rooted in creation.  As Genesis 1:29 notes: we originally we're created to be vegetarians.  “Then God said “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for good.”   Now it’s true after the Flood meat became permissible, as Genesis 9:1ff points out.  But by design – human beings are better suited for a diet not dominated by meat products.  Our basic anatomy bears this out.  Whereas we have twenty molars -- designed to crush and grind plant foods.  And eight frontal incisors -- designed to bite into fruits and vegetables.  We have only four teeth -- the canine teeth -- designed to eat meat.  In addition – though our jaws move both vertically and horizontally to tear and crush food – a true carnivore’s jaw, like a lion’s jaw -- only moves vertically.  (Don Colbert, What Would Jesus Eat, Nashville:  Thomas Nelson, 2005, p. 10)  

What does this mean?  Well – it doesn’t mean to be Christian you’ve got to be a strict vegetarian.  But it does means, to be Christian you’ve got to favor foods  that are more in keeping with your creation and design.

But let’s just say it: it's a battle.   But in spite of the challenge, we must persevere.  For we must “...love the Lord…with all your heart -- and with all your soul -- and with all your mind -- and  with all your strength…”  (Mark 12:30)   The word strength, in the original Greek, means physical strength arising from good health.  And so, as we love God, we must offer Him our very best, including the best physical health possible.

But how is that done? Two practical pointers:  1) ‘if you can’t pronounce it,’ don’t eat it; to be precise, if you can’t pronounce the ingredients in your food, think twice about eating that food.   Now some tongue-twisters are good for you, like isoflavones, but many tongue-twisters are bad, like butylated hydroxyanisole, potassium bromate, sodium bisulfite, aluminum phosphate, tartrazine; 2) don’t pig-out. “Listen, my son and be wise,” the writer of Proverbs declares.  “…do not join those who drink too much…or gorge themselves on meat -- for…gluttons become poor and drowsiness clothes them in rags…”  (Proverbs 23:19-21).  Translated:  do all things in moderation; if you must eat a thick cut of beef, ‘Death By Chocolate Ice-Cream’ or chips and salsa – do so selectively, temperately.   For ultimately, we’re not talking about diet, we’re talking about lifestyle – marked by balance, restraint, and discipline.

Imagine as you leave your current location, your car is missing.  But in its place – is a brand new $110, 000 Rolls Royce.   And it’s all yours; but with one stipulation: you most use the best gas – the best oil – and the best anti-freeze.   Well at first you obey, but six months later, you start to get lazy.   I mean rather than using ‘Exxon Super Unleaded,’ you use ‘Bargain Basement Regular’.    Rather than using ‘Quaker State Gold,’ you use ‘Bottom of the Barrel Yuck’.   And what happens?  Your Rolls begins to sputter, stall and stop.  

Many of us are sputtering, stalling, and stopping.  But it's unnecessary for we do have a Rolls; I mean God's has given us a  physiology, a body, that is an engineering marvel.  But we've got to stop using ‘junk,’ ‘putting in’ instead, healthy things, best things.  

Put in healthy things, best things. Adopt a new lifestyle, eating as Jesus ate.  A lifestyle that empowers focusing on the priority of loving "...the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and..."  (Mark 12:30)  all our physical strength, arising out of good health!