Seize the Moment – Day 533
The Holiness of Food!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 1.
Is food important to you? How do you view food?
Leviticus 11 records a significant part of the Levitical Law—it’s dietary restrictions. Listen to the LORD’s purposes as He finished giving the dietary restrictions in verses 44-45:
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.
A significant part of the people’s holiness in the Levitical Law was focused on food. God prescribed for them dietary restrictions as a part of their spiritual life. A major part of covenant faithfulness was demonstrated by who was invited to the dinner table and what was eaten. These became major points of contention between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day.
In today’s culture, most people I know have a very different view of food consumption. We have either a utilitarian or hedonistic view of food, not a holistic one. Many have lost their connection with the rhythms of working the earth and raising animals for food. Today, we simply go to the store and purchase what we need and find no relationship between that and our worship of the Sovereign God.
God calls us to a larger view of food and even though Jesus has freed us from the dietary restrictions (ref. Matthew 15:11; Acts 10:9-16), we are still called to view our time around the table as a central and holy part of our lives.
Seize the moment and reconsider the importance of food and your time at the dinner table to celebrate God’s work of deliverance so that we can be His set apart people.