It’s a bit of a cruel joke when you think about it. By the time you become concerned about nutrition and ingredients labels, you have a hard time reading them! LOL - God certainly has a sense of humor, doesn’t He?
I’ve been on a green tea kick as of late; more specifically, a green tea and honey kick (the honey makes all the difference, just sayin’). My favorite brand was all natural and around 180 calories per 23.5 fluid ounces of liquid gold (OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but to each their own, right?). And that’s not the whole of this wonderful tale of “man meets drink.” For months, the local grocery store was selling these beauties for one-third the regular price! Woohoo! Life was good...until they disappeared off the shelves without a trace. I have since concluded that the store was simply clearing their inventory out before discontinuing carrying the product altogether. What a tragedy...
I’m now forced to read labels again, something I did just yesterday, as a matter of fact. In an apparent lapse of discernment due to exhaustion, I went and purchased a couple of different “replacement” products without reading the labels (I put that word in quotations because there’s just no replacement for the original - are you feeling my drama yet? - LOL). When I got home, I read the label and found two ingredients that creeped me out: acesulfame potassium and sucralose. It turns out, this zero-calorie drink is full of sugar substitutes, something I try to avoid.
I figure that since God created my body, I’m going to try to sustain it, to the best of my knowledge, with natural foods that He also created. It seems whenever man messes with the pure things in this world, he mucks it up, especially when it comes to food. I’ll gladly drink a few extra calories of a drink made with pure sugar than one made with some chemical I have to look up to even begin to understand. The economics of contemporary food production has resulted in all kinds of poisons being ingested by humans. No wonder there are so many digestive disorders/diseases today.
As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across the following well-known passage. It started out by making me think about what my great-great-grandmother might say to me about consuming unhealthy food.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
— 2 Timothy 3:14-17
It may sound funny, but the above passage also made me think of nutrition and ingredients labels and why we all ought to read them, since great-great-grandma isn’t around to warn us anymore. The Bible is like one big nutritious meal. Jesus said it best:
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
— Matthew 4:4
“EVERY WORD” means the entire Bible, given the fundamental fact that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). Not only is the Bible profitable for our spiritual sustenance, it also has a very specific “nutrition and ingredients label” on it. All you have to do is take the time to read it to understand what it says about its own contents. ’Tis why so many people are sick nowadays - they get their daily sustenance from other books/media without “reading the label.” This is analogous to the person who goes to the grocery store and buys food filled with unhealthy chemicals because they are too lazy to check, or maybe even unconcerned about their health.
“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
— John 6:33-35
Jesus essentially stated that we have been given the perfect source of sustenance - HIM! And since He is the Word (just read the “label” - John 1:14), you know that when you ingest Him you are dining on the very “bread of life” (John 6:35).
There are a lot of spiritually emaciated people in this world. Unbelievers are spiritually dead, so there’s nothing to feed yet - they need their first critical meal, namely the Gospel. But I’m not discounting believers here, either, for many seem to be in various stages of self-deprivation, preferring to “feed” themselves harmful ingredients because they are either too lazy/unconcerned to read their Bibles, or they are too cheap with their time/energy to spend it on doing so. So they exist on minimal nutrition, filled with aches, pains, and diseases that come from ingesting toxins from the world (e.g., bad doctrine).
I won’t buy food without a nutrition and ingredients label on it that I can’t read/understand. I’m too cautious nowadays to turn a blind eye, knowing the myriad unhealthy chemicals populating the shelves of mainstream grocery stores. And that’s just my physical body (though it still matters - 1 Corinthians 6:19). My primary concern is my spiritual health, so I’m really not interested in filling up on toxins that my Lord detests and that my “new self” rejects (Colossians 3:10). I fear what it will do to me, of becoming malnourished. “Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:7b-8).
The Bible not only gives us everything we need to be well-nourished, healthy disciples of Christ, it also comes with an easy-to-read nutrition and ingredients label, something I’m learning to appreciate the older I get.
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
