A little food for thought?

As I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. Philippians 3:18-20

How many hundreds of times I must have read these verses over the years! – including the reference to people “whose god is their stomach” –  without ever really giving much thought to who these people actually were.

Is Paul talking simply about people who are greedy and over-indulgent? – about the sin of gluttony? Or is he, in a more religious context, referring to people who are too concerned about the dietary laws of the Old Testament, as Paul himself once was?

The experts disagree. Personally I have tended to go, albeit rather vaguely, for option one: he’s talking about people whose bodily appetites in general, and food in particular, dominate their lives, people whose minds are “set on earthly things”. But who knows?

Whatever, these words came irresistibly to mind when I was reading the paper this morning. There were several letters about the anti-obesity drive being promoted by Boris Johnson and his government, and one in particular struck me as so good that I wanted to share it. It’s from a lady called Caroline Cochrane; I’ll quote it in full…

Increasingly it seems that our diets have little to do with hunger and everything to do with entertainment. Food has become a work of art, presented as such on television, conversed about on radio and reviewed and lavishly depicted in newspapers, books and magazines: no wonder we are obsessed with titillating our appetites. We ought to find other, more demanding concerns; I’ve yet to see a single photograph of an overweight refugee.

I’ve no idea who Ms Cochrane is: but “Good for you!” I thought.

Food is, of course, a gift of God, to be received with gratitude and enjoyed (see, for example, 1 Timothy 4:3). And surely there’s nothing wrong with it being made attractive and appetising. But, like all good things, it can get out of hand and take a place in our lives which verges on idolatry. As Paul reminds us, “Our citizenship is in heaven”.

A challenge to us all – me certainly included!

Thank you, Father, for the wonderful provision you make for my physical needs. Please help me to maintain an attitude to food which is healthy both physically and spiritually. Help me too to show compassion and generosity to those who are poor and hungry. Amen.