Thoughts for another day

May 13, 2008

Today's verse: 1 Tim. 4:4. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, (NIV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In living Christian lives, often we are called to prove the faith that we follow in many simple facets of life. One aspect is ‘the eating of certain foods’, or accepting things we don’t like or choose to dislike.

As to foods, my question would be, which food is there which God has not created? Is there anything available on the surface of the earth that hasn’t been fashioned by the eternal Maker? And Paul in this letter is making a point that since God has created it, every food is to be accepted and relished, for it will provide necessary nourishment and we need to thank God for it. That way we will ensure that our Creator is not offended. Further, there could be times that we find some food on the verge of becoming putrid; we can also eat this food saying a blessing on it. Our belief has to be that God has created the food and God has created us too and He will ensure that we are well despite the fact that the food is not 100% good. I have myself gone through this often. We also need to be careful that the food we accept at the hands of God be not wasted for there are millions out there who perish for lack of food and even a few grains of it will help them live.

Then there are other things God has created which we do not find in good taste. Take for example, parents to whom is born a deformed child. One can understand the pain of such parents, but at the end of the day, the child is equally beautiful and will prove to be a joy even with its defects. The sooner the parents accept this the better their lives will become.

As a principle, I have learned to accept everything that God hands over to me – whether good or bad for anything and everything that happens in the world is known to God and God allows it to happen for our good. We may not see any good in it, but suffice it for me to say, what do we know.