What You Eat Affects Your MindLast time, we read the verse, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31), and we considered what Jesus did for the glory of God when He was living in this world like us, and the reason He did what He did.As we read through the Bible, we realize that the matter of eating and drinking is given great importance. In Luke's Gospel chapter 12, a wealthy man builds a barn, stores goods for many years, and tells his soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry" (verse 19). The soul cannot eat food or drink a drink, but he comforts his soul, saying, "Eat and drink."We will consider whether or not how our thoughts are manifested through our actions is related to the matter of eating and drinking. For instance, we will consider narcotics. If we watch news about narcotics, it talks about psychotropic substances and arrests on suspicion of drug use. Narcotics is something that a person might consume. It clearly affects a person's mind and disturbs his behavior, and so many nations have legal remedies against narcotics.Let us consider the food that we eat everyday. The food that Korean people enjoy tends to be spicy. If you examine the characteristics of Korean people, they mirror the food that they eat. Put nicely, they have a driving force; put bluntly, they are rash. Italians also enjoy foods with garlic, and they personalities are similar to that of Koreans, in that they tend to be intense. Japanese food is mild and bland. We rarely find Japanese people that tend to say stinging words rashly.We cannot say that what we eat and drink is not related to the thoughts that run through our brains. In light of the verse in the Bible, "Soul ... take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19), I think that the issue of eating and drinking is a great task that has been given to us to resolve.In the verse, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." in Korean, it says, "for the glory," but in English, it says, "to" rather than "for." In other words, it says to do all toward the glory of God. The same is true in German. In Korean, it says, "for," so you may misunderstand it to mean that whenever we eat or drink, or do anything else, we should make and give to God something that He might receive. That is why we might make mistakes. So, in the beginning of the Bible, we find the story of Cain and Abel.
Adam's fails - he eats the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evilWe will consider the words, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do," starting with the Book of Genesis.Our forefather Adam failed with regard to eating. God commanded him, "... saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" (Genesis 2:16-17), but he failed when it came to the issue of eating.The serpent appeared and began to deceive to Eve, saying, "Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Eve answered, "We may eat the Fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" In the middle of the garden, there were the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The serpent heard the words, "lest you die." and he said, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Eve, who heard these words, saw the tree and felt that it "... was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise." So, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her. After they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they realized that they were naked. What was the first thing that they did after they realized that they were naked? They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.Then, God was out to look for him. Adam heard the voice of God, saying, "Where are you?" and was afraid, so he hid among the trees of the garden. Adam said, "... I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." He clearly made himself a covering, but he hid himself, saying he was naked. (See Genesis chapter 3) He failed when it came to eating, and he failed to cover himself. It was he who ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it was he who made a covering. It was all done with his hands. And he failed.As such, through the Bible, we hear the story of what happened to the first person of the history of mankind, history continued, and when Jesus, the second Adam, came, He said the following.Let us read from Matthew's Gospel chapter 6 verse 24.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Verses 24-30)
It says, "... do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on." referring to life, and referring to the body. If we consider this verse in light of our body, the first part refers to the life of the flesh, which is maintained by what we eat and drink, and then, it refers to the appearance _ which has to be covered when we stand before others or when it is cold _ that is, the matters of the body.There is a reason Jesus said these words to the disciples. It was because Jesus was the One who personally set out to find man when mankind first failed with regard to the matter of eating, was spiritually disconnected from God, and made and put on a covering in order to cover his shame. The voice of the One that called out, "Where are you?" was the voice of the One that said, "nor about your body, what you will put on." A very long time ago, He watched as the first person failed, tried to cover himself, but was not able to cover his inequities with his own hands. It was in order to resolve this that He was walking in the garden and called out, "Where are you?" as if He was calling a son He had lost.Time went by, and when the fullness of the time had come, He was born in this world, and taught the disciples, saying, "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin."
Cain's Offering, which Was Not for GodIn Genesis, we read about how Adam failed with regard to the matter of eating. He ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, realized that he was naked, made a covering, and put it on, but he hid behind a tree. When God called out, saying, "Where are you?" Adam said, "I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." He asked, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (See Genesis 3:6-11). This is where the difficult history of mankind begins. The issue of eating was the origin of all problems.God made tunics of skin for each of them and clothed them. They are left the garden and had children, and among them were Cain and Abel. Cain tilled the ground and brought an offering of the fruit ground to God; Abel offered the firstborn of his flock as a sacrificial offering to God. God received Abel's offering, but He did not receive Cain's offering. Abel's offering is connected with how God made tunics of skin and clothed Adam, his father. When it says that He made tunics of skin and clothed them, the premise is that the blood of an animal was shed. However, the Bible does not say explicitly that the blood was shed. It is hidden. When it says that Abel gave the firstborn of his flock, the premise is that an animal's blood was undoubtedly shed. However, the Bible does not refer to the blood yet.He said, "In toil you shall eat of it[the ground] All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread ...." (Genesis 3:17-19). Adam ate fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with his own hands, and he made a covering with his own hands, but before God, he was naked as he was. Adam failed, so he ended up having to grow his food. Cain was in the same situation; he tilled the ground and ate of it but he gave to God what he should have put in his mouth. The issue of eating is hidden in the offering that Cain offered. Based on the command that God gave to Adam, what you grow should enter your mouth. A cursed person tills the ground with his own hands and eats of it, in order to sustain the life of the cursed body, but he offered it to God. He made a tremendous mistake. When God accepted Abel's offering but not his, his countenance fell. The workings of the blood are clearly involved here as well. When Cain's countenance fell, God warned him, saying, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Genesis 4:7).
What Is the Glory of God?Let us compare our lives before being born again with the event where Cain gave to God what he earned through labor. Before being born again, we believed God all our lives and we might have thought that we lived decent religious lives, but if we actually open the Bible and read it, we realized that everything in us is sin. We found out that the only possible way to go before God is through the death of Jesus, who is the sacrificial offering that God prepared. We realized this, so we are exempt from hell, but we repeat our mistakes as we live the rest of our lives. This is because we are living our lives in the flesh as we are. We would not need to worry about this once our flesh is liberated and takes part in the resurrection. However, in the present, we still have our will, our thoughts, and ideas, and our spirits have been changed through the words of the Bible. That is why a struggle continues in us. The struggle whether to side with Cain or with Abel is in me.It says, "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God," you may all think that you will live diligently as Christians and offer something before God from now on. Long ago, when I was just born again, there was a time when I had the same resolve in my heart to live that way. I made a promise before God that I would not be able to keep. However, as time passed, I discovered that I continually fail on my own strength. In the process, I came to find out through the Bible that it is not I that triumph, but rather, that Jesus has accomplished it. Jesus has already resolved all the problems, and we take part in it. So what could I possibly offer before God? The only thing that I can offer is the word that God has given to me.So we consider this once again. When it comes to eating, drinking, and doing other things, it says, "do all to the glory of God." What is the glory of God? The Bible refers to glory or honor. In order to do it to the glory of God, we must consider what the definition of the glory of God might be.If you ask what the glory of God is, many religious people of the world might say that God's glory is giving tithes and offerings, helping the less fortunate, and being praised for it. Other people might say that God's glory is to build a grand church building and to worship God in it. It is difficult to understand the glory of God through a couple Bible verses. However, the Bible clearly says that there is a place of origin of the glory of God.
O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! (Psalm 8:1)
Where has He set it? It says that He has set the glory of the Lord above the heavens. This is a very strange verse, isn't it?
LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells. (Psalm 26:8)
This is quite unique. In Psalm 8, it says, "... have set Your glory above the heavens!" Why is this? Does that mean that there is no glory of God on this earth? And in Psalm 26, it says, "LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells." If we carefully examine how God works through the history of Israel in the Old Testament, there is a clearly defined way in which the glory of God, to which the Bible refers, is manifested. There is a place where it is alive and moves about; there is a method and a passage. It is not that man can give glory to God just by giving it to God.Let us turn to Hebrews chapter 1.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets," When you read these words, you can see that the author who wrote down the Letter to the Hebrews was a Jew. "In these last days" refers to the end of the Old Testament, a time when everything will be fulfilled. In verse 3, it says that God's Son is the brightness of His glory. This is quite strange. He was born as a man, lived and died, but it says, "being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person." In other words, the Bible says that He has the power to emanate the brightness of the glory of God.We will read from John's Gospel chapter 1 verse 1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the W
| 정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다. |
 |
이전기사 :<2012.07> 하나님의 영광이 표출된 통로, 이스라엘 민족의 역사
다음기사 :<2012.07> 내 주는 강한 성이요 방패와 병기 되시니