The Wisdom of Food

Thoughts from Scripture

By Joel Akin

October 21, 2005

Collosians 2: 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days

 What is wisdom and what is its nature? Do we as children of God fully understand the path of wisdom and the path it teaches us? I think there are things in this universe that are difficult for us to understand. For example the issue of food. I do not lay claim to all knowledge and understanding on this issue but I do know that God still speaks through scripture and in revelation. And when He speaks we must answer or at least give heed.

We must first deal with the issue of sin. Sin is the anti-thesis of a relationship with a pure and holy God. Those who walk in sin walk in the nature of darkness and give fruit to death. One of the side effects of sin is that it required a law to be introduced that laid forth statutes of limitations on food. Study the old testament and you will see there are many sections which discuss food both what is and is not suitable for a person to eat.

 Now we know at the beginning God made all things good. He told us the fruit from the trees in the garden were good for food. We ended up living in a world where some fruit is good for you and some is not. To understand this we have to ask ourselves why some food and some drink have been judged bad for us?

If some food is judged bad then the real question we have to ask is who is judging and why are they judging this food and drink. The real answer lies somewhere in the nature of sin and the consequences of the law. Sin entered into nature and into the food and drink that we consume. But in our day and age there are those who ask "is this food bad or good..." They don't obtain their wisdom from God but they obtain it from books written on the subjects.

Books are not bad and writing on a herb, fruit or produce of such is not an evil thing. Where we seem to have gotten off base is in the basis of what we eat and drink. We have placed our own laws on the nature of that food so that the nature of it then takes on the nature of death. The nature of death then becomes the law of the food we eat. For example if someone condemns a food or drink then are we as Christians required to obey their jurisdiction if they would be offended? What if they are offended in nearly everything we eat or drink. Do we then need to obey them?

There are other issues at steak-stake as well. For example the issue of what is wisdom and is wisdom capable of overcoming the law of food. The old testament judged us on our food and the food intake. If it wasn't kosher food it wasn't suitable food. Kosher food was, technically speaking, anything approved by scripture.

In our day we live by similar rules as well. There are certain 'foods' and 'drinks' that are against our laws. These laws are ones created by men and not by God. But if they are created by and spoken by men then are we required to obey them to live a long and prosperous life? If someone tells me that I am cutting my life short because of what I intake then how is it possible for me to live a life of perfection according to worldly wisdom?

Now there are those who say that if we want to live long we should obey scripture such as honor your father and mother. I do not intend to disobey my parents but what if their concept of food and drink is not wholly mine. Do I then remain sick because I have disobeyed their wisdom?

That is an important question because following moms advice is a great idea. But there are times I do disobey her voice and follow my own wisdom in what I eat and drink. The end result is I enjoy my Pepsi and Pizza and find myself feeling less guilty then mom might think I should. But does she give me a law or is it just advice in the eating of food and drink? If she were to put me under a law then she would be in opposition to scripture.

So, we are left still with a dilemma. Can we pull out the law of the old testament and use it as fodder for this day and age? If so then where does one stop in their utilization of the law for their own benefit? After all the wisdom of old states quite clearly that we are under the curse and if so then our bodies also are under it. Yet where does the forgiveness of that curse begin? Has it started for us in the food we eat and drink?

I think we are left with questions not easy to answer. We know that food and drink are an essential part of our lives. We eat and we drink every single day. But if I allow the law to enter in according to food or drink then I allow other laws to enter as well. For it is not in what I eat or drink that holds me hostage to sin. It is what I intake and ingest spiritually in my thinking and in my actions which holds this body to its greatest threats. Sin is in the body and sin is in the world. So if I call some things accursed then one must know that all things would remain cursed by the sin nature. To overcome that I can't go out of my way just to eat and drink the perfect foods while I ignore the spiritual gifts and fruits. For if I remain under the law, even if it is one of someone else's making, I end up in bondage. And that bondage is greater then anything you can imagine.

Personally I don't believe we should remain under the bondage of what I can or cannot ingest physically. Those things are temporal. It doesn't mean I should ignore good or common sense. It simply means that those things I eat or drink will not determine whether I become free of the curse. Those who wish to break free of the curse of this world must set their sights on higher things and higher callings and only then will their bodies begin to heal properly.

So we are in a race. On one hand is the world with its drugs, surgeries, doctors, specialists and so on. They are trying to cure us of the sin nature which is in our bodies called sickness and disease. They give us advice and ideas on what to eat and what to drink and much of it is good advice based on the wisdom of this world but only on this worlds wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill;

The Scripture goes on to say that time and chance happen to us all. All of us are in a race called the race of life. None of us has the fullness of understanding. I know though that I cannot remain under the law of wisdom no matter how wonderful it sounds. I cannot remain under any law because there in is death. The law I speak of is the law of the heart and the heart is the law of life. If our heart is bound by the law of death then it holds at its core wickedness. The law of death states simply that it is bound by the curse. Few understand the dangers there are in forcing or pushing others to remain bound by that law. If wisdom of this world forces us to taste not, touch not, handle not and remain in that mentality, we are bound by a law. And that law leads to death no matter how good the intentions might be. I cannot remain under any law no matter how justified I might think it is or how holy I might live. I can eat all perfect foods and live only on water and that from the purest wells or springs. And yet I can still die in my sins.

So we must release our worldly wisdom, as impossible as that might seem to us. We must let go of those laws we've created for ourselves because any law is based on death. That is hard for some to understand when their life is focussed on worldly wisdom. It just doesn't compute to the human mind. But we cannot remain bound by those worldly laws or worldly wisdom to grow spiritually. By letting go we can focus on our spiritual health and spiritual growth for when we find the freedom of grace we quit worrying about what we should put in our body. And that is strange to some. Jesus said it best

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?