By David ReayTuesday 29 Jan 2019LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Read Deuteronomy 6:1-3
1 “These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, 2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the LORD your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. 3 Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. (NLT)
How come many of the things we like to eat are reckoned to be bad for us? How come some of that ever-so-healthy food has all the appeal of a wet sandshoe? Will no nutritionist ever recommend a diet of ice cream and fish and chips? Will no nutritionist conclude that broccoli and cottage cheese cause premature death?
We can get to think that if something is enjoyable it must be bad for us. If something is unpalatable it must be good for us. Which leads us to consider matters like the Ten Commandments. Those Thou Shalt Nots seem very negative. As if God is peering over a heavenly balcony just itching to yell at people who just want to have a bit of fun.
Fact is, God is not a divine wet blanket. He gives us rules and commands so that we might prosper in life, that we might live it to the full. As our Maker, he knows some things are not good for us however attractive they might appear to be. He wants us to be free to be the people he means us to be, not in bondage to our every desire.
He is not out to make our lives miserable but to both warn us about some dangers and point us in a better direction. We can presume all those nutritionists are trying to do the same, too. Even so, a bit of ice cream with the broccoli probably won’t go astray!
Blessings
David Reay