Eat to Live

Both spiritually and physically, we are what we eat.

The best brand name of medicine is Nature. God designed the human body to heal itself if it is properly taken care of. What comes from physicians and pharmaceutical companies are added bonuses to what nature provides.

Nature includes good fuel for the body (physically-food; mentally-thoughts; emotionally-feelings), good exercise, and daily swigs of vitamins and echinacea (downed with grapefruit juice) and even coffee. That's right. Researchers are finding that Coffee has more antioxidant activity than red wine, green or black tea, or orange juice. Simply smelling the aroma of coffee (which contains about three hundred antioxidants) gives you the same health benefits as eating three oranges. I could go on and on.

In comparison with other religious traditions with their extensive food laws, a disciple of Jesus enjoys remarkable freedom about food. In the 107 New Testament references to "eat" or "eating," and the fifty-five references to "drink" or "drinking," a wide range of menus are on display. In fact, there is an Indian adage that anyone who eats everything must be a Christian.

This doesn't mean that eating, the most basic of human activities, isn't invested with soul significance. From a biblical perspective, what we eat and how we eat has more than social meaning; it also has spiritual meaning, as our signature dish of bread and wine reveals.

Both spiritually and physically, we are what we eat. In fact, the theme of John 6:51-58, where Jesus unpacks the meaning of his being the "bread of life," might be known as "You Are What You Eat."

If I heard this once from my mother, I heard it a thousand times. "Don't live to eat, eat to live."

from "Learn to Dance the Soul Salsa" by Leonard Sweet,PhD