What does Jesus have to do with my Diet? {& Book Giveaway!}

Judging. Criticizing. Comparing. Anxiousness. Insecurities.

I struggle with each of these things in many areas of life, but all of them seem to flare up with it comes to the realm of FOOD! What I feed my family, make from scratch, buy from the store, grow, can, cook, bake… I compare myself to the mom who feeds her family all homemade or organic or unprocessed foods… I compare myself to the mom who picks up fast food after work to feed the hungry mouths in the back of her minivan… Someone over here just baked up some Pinterest-perfect dessert, blogged about it, and still has lipstick on and every hair in place… Someone over there wouldn’t even touch that same dessert because of this, that, and the other reason…

Most days seem to revolve around food. Beyond the eating breakfast before running out the door, packing lunch, getting good snacks into a toddler, making myself eat something substantial for lunch before 3pm when it’s time to begin supper prep, there’s the meal plans, grocery shopping, and prep and planning for other meals, and of course the clean up from all of the aforementioned activities. Throw in a little gardening or making baked goods from scratch, and the whole day has been consumed with food.

How does the Gospel of grace affect my anxiety over food? How can I be gracious with others and myself, content with where I’m at, what I’m capable of, and what I can afford? What does Jesus have to do with my diet?

We can be Free!

I’ve mentioned that the book “Glimpses of Grace” that I read in last month was a huge encouragement to me (and I shared some of the thoughts I was encouraged and challenged by in recent post Communing in the Chaos). Well here is another example of how the unchanging truths of the Gospel can meet us in real life… and specifically in the realm of food!

Below is an excerpt that encouraged me, from the chapter entitled “The Bread of Life and Bagels for Breakfast”:

God has given us his Son, and when we believe in him, we can be free from the sin that so easily entangles us. Jesus, through the gospel, frees us.

We can be free from judging others by what they are able to create in the kitchen.

We can be free from criticizing others for what they feed their families.

We can be free from comparing ourselves to models of culinary perfection.

We can be free from eating the bread of anxious toil.

We can be free from feeling insecure about what we are not able to create in the kitchen.

We can be free to give away what we have, because we have a better possession in Christ.

When we live in the reality of our identity in Christ, we discover we are free. (Glimpses of Grace, pg 90)

Don’t we all want to experience that sort of freedom? To learn to be gracious with ourselves, with each other, and to feel that same grace extended to us from other?!

It’s found in Jesus. Now isn’t that beautiful?