Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Living On Less
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Living On Less
5. Is not life more than food?Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
The ad says, “Eat all you want and lose weight.” We should be ashamed that we are so willing to lay aside common sense (not to mention unchangeable laws of physics) to embrace a lie conceived in avarice, propagated by greed and believed only by the selfish and foolish. Why do we do this? In an interview with a confidence man convicted of bilking older people out of their fortunes by wild investment promises, he was asked how he could convince his victims of such ridiculous schemes. He stated, “We all believe in what we want to be true.” It could be added that if the plan involves indulgences, count us in; if it involves abstinence, count us out.
We are willing to do anything that adds to us, whether to our bank account, our indulgent lifestyle, or our circle of friends. We are awash in advice and counsel on how to live longer and have more and we take it into our heads, our homes, our Meetings, and our hearts. We have become obsessed with the prospect of having all we want to eat and still looking thin.
We are fascinated with schemes of being paid more and more for less and less work. We are sold toys and gadgets making impossible promises of less work and more enjoyment.
Because of this philosophy, the average American is manacled to credit card debt. The mail, delivers monthly the tenacious reminders of reality left over from the accumulation of things he was convinced he wanted and needed (or the things he convinced himself) that he “could not live” without. The fact that our spiritual subsistence and our physical proliferation are at opposite ends of the scale of our care, our attention, and importance, seems to elude our thinking. We know it; we just can’t seem to remember it when we see something we want. We need to reassess our condition and consider the question Jesus asked here, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
Granted, some of our sloth in these areas is due to weakness but some is due to plain inattentiveness. You would likely be surprised at the difference in the portion of your fortune that is given toward the advancement of the Kingdom of God and what portion is allotted to restaurants. What is the difference in time devoted to preparing the soul and mind by meditation, worship, and prayer, and the time devoted to dressing, preparing, and feeding the body? An evening with a calculator and your credit card statements can be very enlightening. (These figures more than surprised me— I was ashamed.) We simply have not paid attention. Where a man’s treasure is (or is spent) there is where you will find his heart. This is elementary, but a lesson from which many seem to have never graduated. “Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes?”
Aahhh… This Is The Life!
It is interesting to note that Jesus asks, “Is not THE life… more than food…etc. I like the way He asks us about the life. Not life – but the life. In our vernacular we use this same term when things are as we think they should be. When all is in place, and life is working well, when we are comfortable and happy, we sigh and look to our companion and say, “This is the life!” Contrarily, when things are not so great, when our toys and machines break down, when we hear our neighbor or our companion complain about the way things are, we answer with futility and say, “Well, that’s life!”
Somehow, there is a message in the words of Jesus here for us Americans. “Is not the life more than food?” Sure, life, subsistence, survival, basic biological propagation is hardly more than the acquisition of food, but the life is a different question altogether. Life in its basic and biological form is continued by what we can add to it, food, water, shelter, all the basic necessities, but, the life, where all is as it should be, I am convinced, is obtained by what we can leave out of it.
This may be the most difficult of all paradoxes in life to apprehend. I have seen the idea pass through the minds of many, but I have seen it take root in few. I have seen envy on the face of men worth millions when they meet a man with nothing more than basic necessities, but it was just a fleeting notion. I am sure this idea of simplicity and minimalism was being considered by the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven… But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Many days in this young man’s life, he likely said, “Aahhh… this is the life!” – but, he knew it wasn’t.
The saddest part of the question posed by Jesus, too, is the answer. When we consider in full, our lives, how they are spent, the things over which we worry and complain, we must answer His question with a resounding, “No.” He asks, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” “No, dear Savior, it is not,” our answer must come back. “Our life is no more than an opportunity to acquire our delicacies and our body, only a hollow mannequin with no other purpose than to display our fashionable clothes. Our bank accounts are there only to hold in store for us our treasures and to serve our wants and desires at our beck and call.
Our pantries store goods for many days and as in the Bible story[2] we say to our soul, ‘Soul, eat drink and be merry!’” Indeed, an honest answer would be shameful one.
Jesus taught that taking thought for these things will hinder your ability to let go of your life, a necessary action for true conversion. This focused concern for your belly causes you to be able to see no further than the plate of food in front of you, and when it is gone your thoughts can extend no further than the source of your next morsel. It causes difficulties for faith as related in Luke 12:29, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” The stories of Jesus mention an activity common among the unjust, the faithless, the doubtful, and the wicked.
Can you guess what it was?
Drunkenness And Gluttony
They were nearly always eating and drinking. Matthew 24:49, “And shall begin …to eat and drink with the drunken.”
Luke 12:19-45
“And I will say to my soul…take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”… “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin…to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”
The Church has done poorly at keeping the words eating and drinking linked together as equally wicked sin. Eating (or better called gluttony) is a favorite pastime of those who profess Christ. It is a behavior accepted by the conventional church while emphatically condemned by the Scriptures! It is no different than drunkenness. You will be hard pressed to find many Scriptures that do not show these two horses in the same harness.
A staggering alcoholic and a body laden with fat are as near kin as are thieves and liars. The religious say nearly nothing when the health of a friend is taxed from excessive eating and if something were said, it certainly would never equal the stir that would come from a churchman with alcohol on his breath.
A drug addict, whose health stands in jeopardy and whose wellbeing is set aside as he purchases and prepares another fix, is not a whit different than anyone who ignores their palpitating heart, their shortness of breath and their ever-increasing size to sidle up to the table and swallow another mouthful of unnecessary food. Although they are equally wicked, and equally dangerous to body as well as the soul, the fact that they are both blatant sins against God and good sense, has somehow escaped us.
Jesus taught that overeating could cause the day of Christ to overtake you while you are “unaware.” It is the “unawareness” that is so dangerous. When you understand that it is the “unawareness” that you seek when overeating and it is the “unconsciousness” provided by indulgence that you are looking for, you will treat overeating with the same disdain as drunkenness. Perhaps you will avoid overeating as you avoid intoxication in other forms. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34)
Have you a problem with dullness of mind? Do you anguish over your indifference to spiritual things? Surfeiting (overeating) is the main cause of apathy and ennui.
When was the last time a fast of several days found its way into your schedule? You know that your heart, your spirit, even your very soul is affected by indulgence in any form, yet, as helpless as any alcoholic or drug addict the behavior continues. Perhaps you may gain strength in contemplation of the question of Jesus, “Is not the life more than food?”
Matthew 19:16-22,
“… Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him …if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. …The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”Luke 12:16
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?Mentioned in this episode:
TRI Radio App
View all episodes
By Don C. Harris (AP)5. Is not life more than food?Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
The ad says, “Eat all you want and lose weight.” We should be ashamed that we are so willing to lay aside common sense (not to mention unchangeable laws of physics) to embrace a lie conceived in avarice, propagated by greed and believed only by the selfish and foolish. Why do we do this? In an interview with a confidence man convicted of bilking older people out of their fortunes by wild investment promises, he was asked how he could convince his victims of such ridiculous schemes. He stated, “We all believe in what we want to be true.” It could be added that if the plan involves indulgences, count us in; if it involves abstinence, count us out.
We are willing to do anything that adds to us, whether to our bank account, our indulgent lifestyle, or our circle of friends. We are awash in advice and counsel on how to live longer and have more and we take it into our heads, our homes, our Meetings, and our hearts. We have become obsessed with the prospect of having all we want to eat and still looking thin.
We are fascinated with schemes of being paid more and more for less and less work. We are sold toys and gadgets making impossible promises of less work and more enjoyment.
Because of this philosophy, the average American is manacled to credit card debt. The mail, delivers monthly the tenacious reminders of reality left over from the accumulation of things he was convinced he wanted and needed (or the things he convinced himself) that he “could not live” without. The fact that our spiritual subsistence and our physical proliferation are at opposite ends of the scale of our care, our attention, and importance, seems to elude our thinking. We know it; we just can’t seem to remember it when we see something we want. We need to reassess our condition and consider the question Jesus asked here, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
Granted, some of our sloth in these areas is due to weakness but some is due to plain inattentiveness. You would likely be surprised at the difference in the portion of your fortune that is given toward the advancement of the Kingdom of God and what portion is allotted to restaurants. What is the difference in time devoted to preparing the soul and mind by meditation, worship, and prayer, and the time devoted to dressing, preparing, and feeding the body? An evening with a calculator and your credit card statements can be very enlightening. (These figures more than surprised me— I was ashamed.) We simply have not paid attention. Where a man’s treasure is (or is spent) there is where you will find his heart. This is elementary, but a lesson from which many seem to have never graduated. “Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes?”
Aahhh… This Is The Life!
It is interesting to note that Jesus asks, “Is not THE life… more than food…etc. I like the way He asks us about the life. Not life – but the life. In our vernacular we use this same term when things are as we think they should be. When all is in place, and life is working well, when we are comfortable and happy, we sigh and look to our companion and say, “This is the life!” Contrarily, when things are not so great, when our toys and machines break down, when we hear our neighbor or our companion complain about the way things are, we answer with futility and say, “Well, that’s life!”
Somehow, there is a message in the words of Jesus here for us Americans. “Is not the life more than food?” Sure, life, subsistence, survival, basic biological propagation is hardly more than the acquisition of food, but the life is a different question altogether. Life in its basic and biological form is continued by what we can add to it, food, water, shelter, all the basic necessities, but, the life, where all is as it should be, I am convinced, is obtained by what we can leave out of it.
This may be the most difficult of all paradoxes in life to apprehend. I have seen the idea pass through the minds of many, but I have seen it take root in few. I have seen envy on the face of men worth millions when they meet a man with nothing more than basic necessities, but it was just a fleeting notion. I am sure this idea of simplicity and minimalism was being considered by the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven… But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” Many days in this young man’s life, he likely said, “Aahhh… this is the life!” – but, he knew it wasn’t.
The saddest part of the question posed by Jesus, too, is the answer. When we consider in full, our lives, how they are spent, the things over which we worry and complain, we must answer His question with a resounding, “No.” He asks, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” “No, dear Savior, it is not,” our answer must come back. “Our life is no more than an opportunity to acquire our delicacies and our body, only a hollow mannequin with no other purpose than to display our fashionable clothes. Our bank accounts are there only to hold in store for us our treasures and to serve our wants and desires at our beck and call.
Our pantries store goods for many days and as in the Bible story[2] we say to our soul, ‘Soul, eat drink and be merry!’” Indeed, an honest answer would be shameful one.
Jesus taught that taking thought for these things will hinder your ability to let go of your life, a necessary action for true conversion. This focused concern for your belly causes you to be able to see no further than the plate of food in front of you, and when it is gone your thoughts can extend no further than the source of your next morsel. It causes difficulties for faith as related in Luke 12:29, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” The stories of Jesus mention an activity common among the unjust, the faithless, the doubtful, and the wicked.
Can you guess what it was?
Drunkenness And Gluttony
They were nearly always eating and drinking. Matthew 24:49, “And shall begin …to eat and drink with the drunken.”
Luke 12:19-45
“And I will say to my soul…take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”… “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin…to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”
The Church has done poorly at keeping the words eating and drinking linked together as equally wicked sin. Eating (or better called gluttony) is a favorite pastime of those who profess Christ. It is a behavior accepted by the conventional church while emphatically condemned by the Scriptures! It is no different than drunkenness. You will be hard pressed to find many Scriptures that do not show these two horses in the same harness.
A staggering alcoholic and a body laden with fat are as near kin as are thieves and liars. The religious say nearly nothing when the health of a friend is taxed from excessive eating and if something were said, it certainly would never equal the stir that would come from a churchman with alcohol on his breath.
A drug addict, whose health stands in jeopardy and whose wellbeing is set aside as he purchases and prepares another fix, is not a whit different than anyone who ignores their palpitating heart, their shortness of breath and their ever-increasing size to sidle up to the table and swallow another mouthful of unnecessary food. Although they are equally wicked, and equally dangerous to body as well as the soul, the fact that they are both blatant sins against God and good sense, has somehow escaped us.
Jesus taught that overeating could cause the day of Christ to overtake you while you are “unaware.” It is the “unawareness” that is so dangerous. When you understand that it is the “unawareness” that you seek when overeating and it is the “unconsciousness” provided by indulgence that you are looking for, you will treat overeating with the same disdain as drunkenness. Perhaps you will avoid overeating as you avoid intoxication in other forms. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34)
Have you a problem with dullness of mind? Do you anguish over your indifference to spiritual things? Surfeiting (overeating) is the main cause of apathy and ennui.
When was the last time a fast of several days found its way into your schedule? You know that your heart, your spirit, even your very soul is affected by indulgence in any form, yet, as helpless as any alcoholic or drug addict the behavior continues. Perhaps you may gain strength in contemplation of the question of Jesus, “Is not the life more than food?”
Matthew 19:16-22,
“… Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him …if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. …The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”Luke 12:16
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?Mentioned in this episode:
TRI Radio App