In case you missed my "Introduction" post on this, I'm doing a series on Food.  The Lord has laid it on my heart that I need to ask myself some tough questions.  So, I'm setting out to do just that.  I don't want to stop at merely asking the questions but I want to seek out the answers in order to figure out just what God wants to teach me.

What is God’s purpose for food? 
I’m sure if we all took a stab at that question off the cuff, we’d say “survival” or something of the like.  However, I’d be willing to bet that most of us don’t use food purely for nutritional reasons.  I can make this assumption because most Americans are overweight and a good number of those could be classified as obese.

I think it’s safe to say that we don’t just eat to stay alive.  I know this is the case for myself.  I know I have an unbiblical view of food and if I do, I’m sure others do as well.  I could go back several years and delve into where this unhealthy view came from but I have to wonder if that would serve any sort of purpose here.  I’m sure we all have issues in our lives that could be blamed (and rightfully so in many cases) on someone else or some circumstance outside of our control.  I’ve searched the far reaches of my past and soul and I know from whence I came.  I think it might actually deter from where I’m trying to go today to trudge through all of that again.  So, for now, all we need to know is that my view is unbiblical.

In studying food in the Bible, it appears that this gift from God has a much more complex purpose than for survival alone.  An online article on fasting, Going Faster in the Christian Life,[1] lists four reasons the author believes God gave us food.  While I do agree with those four, I found one more I think is worthy of mention.  Sustenance, Enjoyment, Worship and Fellowship are all discussed in the article above but I’d like to add “Ministry” to the list.  As we go through these, I’d like to encourage you to study the Word of God along with me.  Know that while I have prayed over this a great deal, I am human but God’s Word is infallible.

Sustenance
Many of us associate food with survival right off.  We know that if we didn’t eat, we would die.  Of course, the God who created us knew this as well and provided a way for our bodies to be nourished.  He began by giving us plants in Genesis 1:29-30 and later added animals in Genesis 9:3.  Food is so important that during the famine in Genesis 41, people first gave all their money for food.  After that ran out, they traded their livestock.  When they had no more livestock, they became slaves in exchange for food.  Food is powerful; more so than money, possessions and even freedom. (Genesis 47:13-21)

Our bodies use food for fuel (1 Kings 19:8).  Paul tells us we need food to survive (Acts 27:33-38).  Here are just a few examples of how food is important to our survival and strength.  1 Samuel 14:28, 28:22, 30:11-12.

Enjoyment
Were you surprised to see this one listed above?  I’m sure most weren’t but a lot of believers think that following Christ means they must give up joy.  You don’t have to look far to discover that this isn’t true as far as food is concerned.  Do apples and oranges taste the same?  What about broccoli and grapes?  No, they taste different as do many foods God has given us to enjoy.  Since God created all these different tasting foods we can be sure that their differences aren’t coincidence.  I found it interesting that the article mentioned above referenced our “highly developed taste system”.  I thought I’d do a bit of scientific research on the Nervous System’s “Taste Feature”.

The ability to taste serves more than one purpose.  One is to protect us from unsafe foods and the other is for enjoyment of safe foods.  Most of your taste buds are located on your tongue and with them you can differentiate between the following categories: sweet, salty, sour and bitter.  Did you know that your mouth contains approximately 10,000 taste buds?  And, did you know that each taste bud contains anywhere from 50 to 100 specialized receptor cells?  From every receptor cell protrudes a tiny “taste hair” that tests your saliva for food chemicals.  As the taste hairs are stimulated, impulses are sent to your brain.  Your ability to enjoy the full flavor of foods doesn’t stop with your mouth.  Research shows that your sense of smell plays a big role in this as well.  As a result, when you have a cold, food tends to taste blander than when you can breathe easily through your nose.[2]

Many references can be found throughout the Bible about food being tasty and enjoyable.  Apparently Job didn’t care for tasteless food or egg whites (Job 6:6-7).  In Genesis, Isaac asked his son, Esau, to prepare some tasty food for him (Gen. 27:4).  Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 says:

“   A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

Food is a gift from God, meant to be enjoyed.  If you have a hard time believing that, just take a peek at Ecclesiastes 3:12-13:

“    I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

See also Matthew 6:11.

Worship/Thankfulness
We just saw in Ecclesiastes that food is a gift from God and while we certainly need to enjoy that gift, we also need to be thankful for it. (1 Timothy 4:3-4).  Evidently every meal we have is an opportunity to openly thank God for meeting our needs and giving us good food to eat.  (Acts 27:35)  Do we realize that this gift comes from God and therefore He deserves our worship and praise for His provision?  God has blessed us immeasurably and our praise should reflect that.

“     When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Fellowship
I think most of us have this one down.  Food seems synonymous with “getting together” in our society.  Things were no different during Biblical times (Genesis 18:1-8 , Nehemiah 8:12, John 12:2).  And who among us can forget Christ’s example of fellowship with His disciples at the Last Supper (Luke 22)?

You’ll find that business partners, clients, friends, family members….etc will meet together over meals for various reasons.  They come together in the spirit of fellowship and discuss or share during the meal.  No doubt you’ve fellowshipped with others at meal-times at least once in your life.  There’s something about food that draws us to one another and I believe this was part of God’s purpose for this provision in our lives.

Ministry
You may have wondered why I added this one when the others seem to really accentuate God’s purpose so well.  As I was studying for this piece on food, I came across verse after verse talking about giving food to the hungry, poor…etc.  It occurred to me that God didn’t just intend for us to use food for survival, enjoyment, worship and fellowship but that He also meant for us to use it to glorify Him through the meeting of the needs of others.  Exodus 23:11 shows a way that God used those with plenty of food to provide food for those who had little to no food.  Deuteronomy 10:17-19 is a prime example of how God expects us to minister to others.  We are to bless others out of our abundance (Esther 9:22).  Of course, that’s true with everything but I believe God had a specific purpose for food in relation to ministry.

I think we’ve clearly defined much of God’s purpose for food in our lives.  The next question is if these are found in balance in our life.  Or do we put more emphasis on one or two?  I doubt there are many among us who are so caught up in giving our food to the poor that we’ve little left to sustain ourselves much less enjoy it.  I’d also doubt that very many of us spend an inordinate amount of time singing praises to God concerning our food and then haven’t enough time to eat what we need to stay strong.  I would think most of us focus on eating for enjoyment and fellowship more than we do for survival, worship or ministry.  There’s nothing wrong with enjoying food of course, it’s just a matter of balancing that enjoyment with the others.

While I studied and prayed over this subject, I began to wonder if this provision from God, with obvious purpose in our lives, could result in sin.  So, I’ve set out to answer that question for myself.  Join me soon for the next part in this series where we’ll ask the question:

Could food become a catalyst for sin? 

[1] Going Faster in the Christian Life by Dennis Rupert

[2] Science & Nature: Human Body & Mind

In Relation to Food:  Intro
In Relation to Food:  Part 1
In Relation to Food:  Part 2
In Relation to Food:  Part 3