Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Did you know that eating food is a sacred exercise? We read that before Jesus fed the 5000, "He had given thanks," and again before He fed the 4000 (John 6:11; Mark 8:6-9). When you pray, you are in the presence of God, otherwise the prayer is sacrilegious. So when we offer thanks for food, we are eating in the presence of God. That is not to diminish our enjoyment of the food, but to enhance it, realizing that it is the gift of God, "who satisfiest thy mouth with good things" (Psalm 103:5). Plenty reason to be thankful! Yes, and for the appetite, too, to enjoy it.
Jesus taught this truth in His lesson in John 6: "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. ... I am the bread of life. ... Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man; and drink His blood, you have no life in you" (vss. 32-53). What lies back of this is something profound, yet simple. It is the truth that no vegetation, let alone food, would grow on planet earth unless this planet had been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus. When He died, His blood ran from His wounds into the parched earth beneath, thus sanctifying the soil. Careless, thoughtless "thanks" given at meals leave us perilously near doing what Paul said,--eating and drinking to our own damnation (1 Cor. 11:29). According to this verse, the problem is a failure to "discern the Lord's body."
According to one wise writer, this does not mean merely eating the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper. "The bread we eat is the purchase of His broken body. The water we drink is bought by His spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. ... [This] makes sacred the provisions for our daily life. The family board becomes as the table of the Lord, and every meal a sacrament" (The Desire of Ages, p. 660).
The ancient Israelites didn't "discern the Lord's body" in the manna which the Lord gave them freely: "All ate the same spiritual food, ... Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased." "They could not enter in because of unbelief" (1 Cor. 10:3-5; Heb. 3:19). This impacts on four factors in our daily eating: (a) the kind of food we eat; (b) the quantity; and (c) whether we eat "with faith," or (d) with "unbelief." The latter can be the hidden source of many ills! Don't eat what you know God is not pleased for you to take into your body. "Eat what is good," says the Lord (Isa. 55:2). Actually, you'll enjoy it more!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 11, 1999.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
Did you know that eating food is a sacred exercise? We read that before Jesus fed the 5000, "He had given thanks," and again before He fed the 4000 (John 6:11; Mark 8:6-9). When you pray, you are in the presence of God, otherwise the prayer is sacrilegious. So when we offer thanks for food, we are eating in the presence of God. That is not to diminish our enjoyment of the food, but to enhance it, realizing that it is the gift of God, "who satisfiest thy mouth with good things" (Psalm 103:5). Plenty reason to be thankful! Yes, and for the appetite, too, to enjoy it.
Jesus taught this truth in His lesson in John 6: "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. ... I am the bread of life. ... Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man; and drink His blood, you have no life in you" (vss. 32-53). What lies back of this is something profound, yet simple. It is the truth that no vegetation, let alone food, would grow on planet earth unless this planet had been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus. When He died, His blood ran from His wounds into the parched earth beneath, thus sanctifying the soil. Careless, thoughtless "thanks" given at meals leave us perilously near doing what Paul said,--eating and drinking to our own damnation (1 Cor. 11:29). According to this verse, the problem is a failure to "discern the Lord's body."
According to one wise writer, this does not mean merely eating the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper. "The bread we eat is the purchase of His broken body. The water we drink is bought by His spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. ... [This] makes sacred the provisions for our daily life. The family board becomes as the table of the Lord, and every meal a sacrament" (The Desire of Ages, p. 660).
The ancient Israelites didn't "discern the Lord's body" in the manna which the Lord gave them freely: "All ate the same spiritual food, ... Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased." "They could not enter in because of unbelief" (1 Cor. 10:3-5; Heb. 3:19). This impacts on four factors in our daily eating: (a) the kind of food we eat; (b) the quantity; and (c) whether we eat "with faith," or (d) with "unbelief." The latter can be the hidden source of many ills! Don't eat what you know God is not pleased for you to take into your body. "Eat what is good," says the Lord (Isa. 55:2). Actually, you'll enjoy it more!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 11, 1999.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
