Dietary Rules

Towards the end of November every year, the village of Oystermouth in Swansea shuts down to traffic for the best part of a day while the local populace come together to turn on the Christmas lights.  The actual event takes place just outside the church I belong to, so we usually open up to serve tea, coffee and mince pies to the locals.  As well as giving mince pies to those coming into the church, we also hand them out to those outside in the street.

A couple of years ago, we were approached by a member of the trading standards who told us that we couldn’t give the mince pies out the way we had been doing.  He went on to inform us that we had to have a sign on the tray stating EXACTLY what was in the pies.  

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but over recent years we seem to have become far more aware of the food that we eat, and the changes have all taken place in my lifetime.

When I was a boy, food was food.  Bread was bread and butter was butter.  We never asked what was in it, but it always tasted good.  Then, with the introduction of ready meals and convenience food, we became aware that a lot of chemicals was being added to what we were eating and the famous book “E for additives” appeared on the shelf where people could find out exactly what was in the things they were putting on their plate.

Alongside that came the famous sell by dates and suddenly we were all becoming aware of the need for food hygiene.

Then we moved into the time where it became law for all food to have the exact ingredients printed on the label and we all realised that food contained allergens like gluten, milk and eggs.

Nowadays most shops and restaurants cater for gluten free, dairy free, veganism, vegetarianism while also offering cuisine from all parts of the globe.

Food, nowadays, is complicated! 

Of course, for some such controls are necessary.  For celiacs it is imperative that they know that their food is free of gluten, to quote just one example. But for others, there is the danger that what may start as a preference can, in time, become an obsession.

Dietary rules are not new.  As far back as three thousand years ago the people of Israel were given a set of strict rules as to what they could and could not eat.   

As time went by, these rules became obsessive to some of the stricter religious Jews and they went round teaching that if people did not observe these rules, then the food they ate could make them unclean in the sight of God.

During HIs lifetime on earth, the Lord Jesus frequently clashed with these religious people and He made it clear that it was not what people ate that made them acceptable to God, but what they were inside.  It was not what they put into themselves in the form of food, but what came out of them in the form of pride, anger, lies and dishonesty.

Metaphorically speaking, it was the state of their heart that mattered.

While we would all agree that good diet is important, just as much as it is important to look after our bodies physically, we need to realise that what Jesus was telling HIs followers carries far more weight than anything else.  We need to recognise that, although all our bodies will one day wear out and pass away, we have eternal souls that go on after death.  It was to save our eternal souls that Jesus suffered and died.

It is always good to enjoy the pleasures of life such as food and leisure, but let us not forget that which is of ultimate importance – and may we all “feed” ourselves in the way that really matters.

DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (19/11/24)

Written by STEPHEN TRESEDER 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash