Eating for Health and Happiness

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Here is a principle which lies at the foundation of every act, thought, and motive; the consecration of the entire being, both physical and mental, to the control of the Spirit of God. FLB 230.2
Even the natural act of eating or drinking, should be done … “to the glory of God.”
If the indulgence of appetite was so strong upon the race that, in order to break its power, the divine Son of God, in behalf of man, was required to fast nearly six weeks, what a work is before the Christian in order that he may overcome even as Christ overcame! The strength of the temptation to indulge perverted appetite can be measured only by the inexpressible anguish of Christ in that long fast in the wilderness.
As our first parents lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, our only hope of regaining Eden is through the firm denial of appetite.
God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of an unperverted appetite. He has spread before him the products of the earth—a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says we may freely eat. Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream, the most healthful diet. They … give a power of endurance and vigor of intellect that are not produced by a stimulating diet.
We do not mark out any precise line to be followed in diet; but we do say that in countries where there are fruits, grains, and nuts in abundance, flesh food is not the right food for God’s people…. If meat eating was ever healthful, it is not safe now.
Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.
The Faith I Live By p. 230
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for my aunt and uncle who live in Panama City. They did not evacuate. They have no power, their house is flooded and the roof has collapsed in some rooms. Also, my uncle is already weak and in poor health. Mary
—-My family from Montana, well they are in Tampa, Florida right now..I’m concerned for them: Please pray for their safety. please pray for all the people that will be affected by the storm. Eva
—-Please pray for Tammy and family as her mother-in-law passed.
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Dear Friends,
Before Janey moved to the neighborhood, Gary was the only other child near my age for blocks around. He lived two blocks away, but even when he was only five, he was allowed to walk to my house. I always looked forward to the times when he was able to come as we played together happily.
He was a sweet and affectionate boy and often would kiss me on the cheek and give me a hug. This is normal for very young children to do, but this habit of his gave my mother and grandparents some grave concern. One day, while we were playing, my mother walked out on the porch to relax a bit. Gary and I left our play and began talking with her. In the course of the conversation, Gary told my mother that his parents were very worried because he had been exposed to polio and he wasn’t feeling very well. (This was about five years before Dr. Jonas Salk discovered a vaccine against that dreaded disease.)
Frightened, my mother demanded that Gary leave immediately and not come back until she told him he could. Poor Gary was too young to understand. He tearfully walked the two blocks home. Later, my mother visited with his mother and found that he was telling the truth. Both were worried for their children. I was not happy with my mother. I had a hard time understanding why I couldn’t play with my friend for the next month.
Daily, we are exposed to something far worse than Gary had been. The disease of sin permeates this planet to the point that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom 3:23 How important it is that we choose the right and shun the wrong. How diligent we must be to guard carefully the avenues to the soul. We can never do this on our own. We need our Dear Saviour’s strength to turn from the temptations that the evil one exposes us to.
Just as my mother had to send Gary home for a few weeks until she was sure that he had not contracted the disease, so we must choose carefully our friendships. Friends can draw us closer to God or they can infect us with the disease of sin. James warns, “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4 Paul advises, ” Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2Co 6:14-16 Amos adds, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3
God’s Holy word is full of object lessons showing this very principle. Before the flood, the followers of God at first kept themselves separate from the descendants of Cain. Gradually, however, they began to intermarry. This caused the infection of sin to permeate society to until our Great Creator declared, ” I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” For “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Gen 6:6, 5 From the time of the judges through until the return of the exiles from Babylonian captivity, we find Israel’s sad history is one of compromise with sin through desiring to be like the nations around them. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Cor 10:11
May we keep “unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 May we choose carefully our friends that we will not be tempted to stray. May we heed Paul’s admonition, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil 4:8
Rose