The unhealthy state of affairs in my aging family members has me thinking more and more about what is truly "good for me" and what is not. Do I want to be on a pacemaker, shooting insulin in my body and/or barely able to walk later? This is just the tip of the iceberg of what is awaiting me due to genetics. The Apostle Paul even said, "everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial." Ideally, identifying what is beneficial and doing that more often than that which does not benefit would be a start. A ding dong may taste good and may be "permissible" but is it my "best choice"? I emphasize "choice" because well, isn't that really what this is about - choices?

If I eat the ding dong, my choice is taste over waist, is it not? Likewise I could argue that a choice for broccoli might mean waist over taste (as I don't find broccoli nearly as tasty as chocolate). But perhaps I'm looking at this all wrong? In the past if I chose broccoli I did so either as a martyr (oh poor me, I have to eat this vile weed and can't enjoy food at all) or as a self-professed saint (oh look at me, I'm such a healthy minded person and so disciplined). Neither mindset is healthy in the light of Truth and Balance. When it comes to "food", is it really about "being right or being wrong"? I don't think so. I think it's more about what is beneficial and what doesn't benefit.

And then, I must ask myself, what am I striving to benefit? My ego? My vanity? My cravings? My flesh? All of which are shallow things to invest in. Rather then, should I be striving to benefit the Temple of the Lord, which is my physical body. Looking to benefit the Kingdom of Heaven through glorifying the God who created me would be a better choice as well. And if I see the choice between broccoli and the ding dong as more of a choice than a curse or a right, wouldn't it free me to better make the more beneficial decision? The decision that will most benefit my purpose on this earth? Ah, but what is my purpose? I may not know the full scope of that but what I do know is that my purpose does not involve willingly destroying my body any more than it involves the worship of my physical body. My purpose that I am positive of is to reflect the glory of God...to point others back to Him...to live beyond my flesh nature through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hmm, kind of alters the perspective of those daily food decisions doesn't it?