Monday, March 17, 2014

Grass-Fed or God-Fed?

I have recently found myself swept along (and in my opinion rightly so!) with those who are becoming increasingly disgusted with what the average American consumes as "food" and what are diet as a culture consists of. 

I hate that we are eating pink slime and think it's beef, I hate that MSG is in everything and that it not only is USED to fatten rats it kills brain cells, I hate that farmers have to abide by a whole host of rules and regulations brought on by large companies, and I hate a lot more things about our food industry. 


I have become slightly obsessed with reading articles, buying grass-fed butters and meats, spending my FREE TIME watching food documentaries and yes, reading more and more and more articles or at least pinning about them to show that I am appalled by the norm. 
However, I have also had a recent wake up call about how I was spending not only my time and attention, but things more important like my thoughts, my plans for my days and my hopes for my family's life. 
I, along with the rest of you fellow paleo-ers, want to consume less garbage and simply eat the REAL food God put on the earth for us to eat. I want my kids to grow up healthy with limited health issues and not be addicted to having sugar in everything they touch, and I want to promote a healthy culture and planet which is all very important  ...... BUT, why do I want to do all these things? If you asked me, I would say because I want to have a long life to share the love of Christ with those around me and not be bogged down with feeling sick. But how am I spending the time I already have been given now? 
While there is truth to the fact that I need to eat a certain way so that I am literally not sick all the time, there is more truth that while my physical body is being taken care of like a pristine item, my soul can be starving and dry. 


And while there is truth to the fact that I love and enjoy reading articles about food and there is no harm in that, I somehow have no time or energy left to read my Bible or even just sit with my Lord. 
This challenge is for my fellow Christians who like me, are doing their best to care for the needs and bodies of their family, but quite honestly, are spending our days trying to paint and perfect a burning piece of wood. My body has a function, yes it needs to function well so I need to take care of it as a temple of God, BUT it is a body for my soul. How can we not see that we are spending all our time working to preserve something that will die instead of the spirit which will live on?
We go to such lengths to make sure we ingest less toxins and chemicals yet don't care about what we feed our souls. We watch things that we shouldn't that fill our minds with ideals and standards that are not set by God but the world on how we should live. We are like a soldier who is training and training with the perfect physically strong body but we never see battle. 
I write this as much to myself as to you. I can recite articles and quotes and recipes that further my knowledge about clean eating yet........... where is that verse again? The one about salvation offered to all men? I don't know it because I don't KNOW it well. I know those recipes and quotes because I do and say them over and over and over again. 
I am not advocating that we eat junk and trash our bodies, that is clearly not Biblical. But neither is the idolatry of putting what we eat and consume physically above what we eat and consume spiritually. Colossians 3:1-3 says,
 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Of course it's not bad to eat primal/paleo/real food and take care of our families. But keep directing your mind and attention back on Him, back on eternal things that will last. If you spend your life and days and hours focusing on taking perfect care of your body you will be devastated one day when you face death. I noticed that the more time I spent in front of my computer reading about what I should be eating the less I spent time with God (duh!).  When people think of me I want them to know I am the one who is passionate about the love of Christ, not passionate about what you eat and would defend it till blue in the face. He is what matters, love him and love people
Take care of your body with the balance of taking care of your soul and the countless souls who are dying daily without ever even hearing the name Jesus. 
 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." 
2 Cor. 4:16