Natural Food and Spiritual Life
By George C. Tenney
THE true object of eating is the glory of God and the nourishment of our spiritual powers. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” God is glorified when his own will and plans are carried out. The proper use of every mercy or blessing brings glory to its Giver. The improper use of God’s blessing reflects discredit upon his provision. It will not be denied that the common criterion by which the diet is prescribed is taste, or appetite. Appearance goes with this to a certain extent, as indeed it must in any case; for no one can glorify God in the use of food prepared or served in a slovenly manner, no matter how good the food may be. Gust, or relish for food, is an essential consideration. No man can eat food to the glory of God simply from principle,12while every sense of his being rises in teouse protest against it. Eating from a sense of duty is a hard way to get a living. The man who finds himself pressed between physical necessity on one side and a goading conscience on the other, while across his only path lies the disagreeable task of eating what his soul loathes, is truly an object of pity. That is one extreme. The other is to live as though eating were solely a matter of gratifying taste, a gustatory function, over which the palate presides, and where sense and reason sit last and lowest at the board. The name for this latter situation is gluttony, and, though I would say it gently, it may be said that we are a race of gluttons. The cook who most successfully panders to appetite gets his thousands, while he slays his tens of thousands. The man who advocates the claims of hygiene in diet is a setter forth of strange doctrines, one who wants to take from us all that is good. Before we can make any progress in a right direction, we must get rid of the idea that it is a doleful path that we are called upon to tread. The reason why people make out so miserably in God’s service is that they never get near enough to know the sweetness of his approving smile. They lag so far behind that they catch all the reproach, and tumble over all the stumbling-blocks. They have no light, no joy; they would fain fill themselves with the husks that the swine about them are eating, and have naught to do but to grumble and complain because they cannot have anything. Poor souls! they don’t get much, to be sure. We say that such persons need converting. So they do. They need to be renewed in the spirit of their minds. Their mental organization needs transforming. They need to get nearer God and the light. They need to feel the clasp of the divine hand, and to hear the cheering voice of Jesus. Then their Christian service becomes another thing. Thus it is exactly in matters of diet. No man can please God while he is in the flesh, or eats after the flesh. The professed Christian who is eating after the flesh (appetite) is eating death and condemnation all the time—spiritually as well as physically. The man who tramples his conscience under foot, even occasionally, in eating or drinking, weakens his moral and spiritual powers as though he yielded to temptation on any other point. But how can we bring our tastes into harmony with what we know to be right, so that we can enjoy the food “which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth”?—Just in the same way that a Christian learns to love what he once hated—by being converted by the grace of God. Let us place God and purity in the seat occupied by appetite, and see what a revolution will take place in our ideas of pleasant food. How disgusting the fumes of liquor and tobacco become! How hideous do the slaughterhouse and beastly morgues that line our streets become! In a little while we almost hold our noses at smells, and shut our eyes at sights that were once our delight. Now we glory in the beautiful displays of fruit, and think with delight of the manifold blessings of God, blessings which come to us all the way from Eden, blessings which await us in all their perfection in Eden restored. The Bible advocates good living, not starvation. ‘Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.’ We are apt to think a fat body is the sign of good living. Rather let us agree with God that it is the soul that wants fattening. Many a fat soul flourishes in a lean body, though food that is good for the soul is always best for body and spirit. Again: ‘The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly [appetite] of the wicked shall want.’ Prov. 13:25. He who eats to gratify his appetite is never satisfied. We have all heard how the old Romans used to do in their vain endeavors to get enough. People do almost the same now, only it is a dose of pills instead of a slave with a feather. But they are not satisfied. One can never satisfy the craving of a sinful tendency by gratifying it. It only feeds it. But a Christian, eating to the glory of God, rises from his table with a thankful heart, with spirit refreshed, with a conscience void of offense. Not only is his body satisfied, his soul is also filled with delight. Of ancient Israel it was written that ‘He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.’ The result of eating for appetite was then what it is now. Appetite needs sanctifying as much as any of our faculties, perhaps more. Then we shall eat our bread and fruit and all that is good with gladness and singleness of heart; and it will taste good, too.