Allow me to introduce you…

…to a revolutionary concept.

You know how the hippies sang, “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…”

Well, there’s something I’d like to teach the world—or at least the part of the world I live in.

It’s a very deep concept, and lofty in every way, elusive to commonplace thought, yet surprisingly easy to grasp.

Are you ready?

Take a deep breath…

OK, here it is:

BEING HUNGRY WILL NOT KILL YOU.

Now before you get your panties in a bind, please take a moment to notice the difference between hunger and starvation. Actual starvation can kill you. Going 5 hours between meals will not.

I know, for many, this seems like a difficult concept to grasp, but it will help if you put down that soda and try to concentrate.

In this day and age, where satiating every slight twinge of hunger is merely a Snickers bar away, it is sometimes easy to forget that there was a time, not so long ago, when that was not the case. People gave thanks before meals in no small part because they were truly thankful to have enough to keep hunger at bay. They knew how fortunate they were just to have three squares a day, much less morning coffee and an afternoon snack and after dinner munchies and midnight snacks…

Meal preparation, from procurement to table, consumed a large majority of time in the life of all but the wealthiest. Anyone with enough free time to be sitting around blogging—or reading blogs—instead of hunting, fishing, gathering, herding, farming, slaughtering, harvesting, storing, cooking, serving and eating was either among a very fortunate few, or in danger of imminent starvation.

Of course, as with so many other things that seem so simple and easy and commonplace on the surface, the heart of the issue goes much, much deeper.

What we put into our mouths—and how—and where and with whom—all have a profound effect on our well-being. I tell you now that one of the easiest ways for Satan to reach straight into our hearts is through our mouths (and only in small part because of the corruptible nature of flesh). This phenomenon is due less to the forbidden fruit that caused the downfall of Adam than it is to the fact that feeding ourselves is such a natural, commonplace activity that it never occurs to us that we could be consuming evil as we feed ourselves.

Oh, there I go again! Why do I see evil in everything, and yet am always admonishing everyone to not be afraid? Well, it’s easier to fear an enemy you don’t know, isn’t it? So bear with me.

…with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.
Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs
of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou
return to the earth… (Genesis 3: 17-19)

It is God’s very first law for man in his earthly home. Only through toil and labor shall we eat. Just because we can obtain our nourishment through other means doesn’t make it acceptable in God’s eyes. In his wisdom he knew that we needed this labor. He did not fashion us to eat of the stones and dirt of the earth, dead and without need for cultivation. Likewise, he did not fashion us to eat food that has been altered to the point where it is no longer even able to rot.

God fashioned us to live through consuming other living things. This is a great mystery, but any that deny it fly to their own ruin. In order to properly achieve this, we must expend time, resources and effort in procuring these other living things. Thus there is a built-in control in the quantity of food we can consume. This is true in myriad ways; covering them is beyond my present scope.

We have become consumers not of other living things, but of things so far removed from life that they scarcely contain any trace of nutriment. Some are so adulterated as to even rob us of nutriment.

And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a
fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg,
will he reach him a scorpion? (Luke 11:11-12)

How can we expect to replace our bread with stones and be satisfied?

If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give
me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. (John 4:10)

Always His ways are best. If we ask Him, He will give us living water. Yet He has commanded us that we shall eat by our labor. So if we will be satisfied, we must submit with humility and continence. We ought to do what we can to procure at least a portion of our food from the earth rather than a store. We should labor to prepare our meals. We must practice self-control in how, when, where, and how much we eat. We should practice finishing our meals before we are filled, offering up the rest. Through labor and sacrifice, we acknowledge God’s natural wisdom for us, and our labor truly becomes a form of prayer, of obedience to His will, of ‘mortification of the flesh’. If we cannot manage this simple form of discipline, how will we manage when the steaks—er—stakes are higher?

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