You Are What You Eat

Today's readings: Psalms 119:73-80; 145, Jeremiah 1:11-19, Romans 1:1-15, John 4:27-42

We’ve all heard the phrase “You are what you eat.” The foods we take into our bodies determine our health, our energy levels, and even our moods. Many diseases are directly related to diet, and we can prevent, control, or cure them through careful eating habits. In her novel Like Water for Chocolate, author Laura Esquivel explores the idea that our emotions can permeate the food we prepare, altering the experience of the people who consume it.

Jesus once told his disciples, who were asking if he was hungry: “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (John 4:32). In their stubbornly literal manner, they assumed he was talking about physical food and wondered who brought it, so he further explained: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work” (v 34).What a radical idea: that we can be nourished by giving, and not just by receiving.

Mission trips can be hard work. We may think of missionaries as people who travel and convert “pagans” on someone else’s dime, but modern missions tend to focus on service. From digging wells to repairing homes to facing down sex traffickers, today’s missionaries spread the Good News by showing how it’s transformed their hearts. Almost to a person, they will tell us the hard, sometimes brutal, work fills them with purpose and leaves them rejuvenated.

Doing God’s work feeds us. It strengthens and refreshes our spirits. Maybe we start doing it because we think it’s what’s required of us, but if we surrender to the joy that can be found in service, we will find our spiritual hunger is satisfied not by the result or the gratitude (which may not always be present), but by the act of service itself.

As Christians we gather around the communion table, which represents God’s ultimate work in the world through the person of Jesus Christ. How fitting we commemorate him in a meal that is both physical and spiritual. When we share the bread and cup, we remember blessings are multiplied when we use them to serve others.

Evening readings: Psalms 121; 6

Fools for Wisdom

Today's readings: Psalms 84; 150, Jeremiah 1:1-10, 1 Corinthians 3:11-23, Mark 3:31-4:9

What does it mean to be wise? Unlike certain types of intelligence, wisdom is not something we can rate on a scale. Neither is it the same as knowledge, which we can acquire by the ton without finding an ounce of wisdom. The cliché that wisdom comes with experience certainly holds some truth, yet many people manage to experience decades without growing much wiser at all and some young people are what we call wise beyond their years. Though most of us would like to be wise, few of us would honestly describe ourselves as such.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says calls the thoughts of the wise futile (Cor 3:20). He advises them: “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise” (Cor 3:19). What could this contradictory message mean?

Worldly wisdom points toward wealth, power, security, and a legalistic kind of justice. God’s wisdom, expressed through the teachings of Christ, points toward humility, mercy, risk, and a kind of justice that is about serving those most in need. The worldly view is often more appealing, and the temptation to rationalize our own desires and prejudices is a strong one. When we interact with the world, particularly if we are called to lead in some way, we should humbly seek God’s will above our own. Our confidence is to be primarily in God, not in our own thoughts and desires. True wisdom does not seek to teach so much as to learn.

Acting out of God’s wisdom may make us look foolish to the world, but it also empowers us. When Jeremiah insisted he was too young to be a prophet, God told him: “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.” (Jer 1:7). Is there a sense of freedom in knowing we are not under pressure to be wise, but instead to be listening for and guided by God’s wisdom? After we listen we must still act with integrity, discernment, and accountability – as only a fool can do.

Evening readings: Psalms 42; 32