Just One Bite

Disregard for God’s laws has led to a desperately tainted food supply. Is there a lesson in this that goes beyond what’s on the menu?

While dining out with friends recently, a thought struck me as we studied our choices.

It is sometimes a challenge for me to locate items that I can eat in a restaurant, without fear of aggravating the illness I suffer from. My two friends were facing the same dilemma, each for her own reason.

Beyond individual dietary requirements, we were trying to avoid meat products forbidden in the Scriptures (Leviticus 11), HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup, which is implicated in many diseases) and GMOs (genetically modified organisms, whose effect on humans is controversial and therefore banned by six EU countries).

We know the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (Romans 14:17) but we try in balance to protect our health so we can serve God and our families, while still enjoying our meals and fellowship.

The way of the world is hard

My mind drifted to some wonderful words in Genesis 2:16: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (emphasis added throughout).

A fascinating progression of events has evolved over the 6,000 years since creation. Our kind, wise and loving Creator gave us an endless array of wonderful, nutritious foods to eat, and said there was only one fruit that we must abstain from. Now, after years of tampering by man, it is hard to find one that we can be sure is really good for us.

His Commandments are not burdensome

What would our lives be like if, just in the area of agriculture, God’s laws were faithfully adhered to?

How healthy would we be? How much more prosperous would our national and personal economies be without skyrocketing health-care costs?

In the future, God says that the inhabitant in His Kingdom “will not say, ‘I am sick’” (Isaiah 33:24). That is an astonishing promise in light of today’s conditions.

Conditions for agricultural blessings

Since mankind sinned, the earth has changed. Flooding, windstorms and other weather disasters have eroded the land’s nutrients, but rain in due season was promised to those who were obedient to God’s Commandments (Deuteronomy 11:13-17), so the crops could be blessed.

God, who says “the land is Mine” (Leviticus 25:23), said to let it rest during the entire seventh year of release and in the 50th jubilee year (verses 1-22). With obedience to these principles, which required faith, God promised to “command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years” (verse 21).

This is a picture of extraordinary abundance, all without the assistance of genetically engineered seeds or the billions of pounds of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals dumped on our soils today. Few organic farmers today practice the land rests, and they find it difficult to improve on conventional farming.

A symbol of approaching disaster

The “land flowing with milk and honey” (Leviticus 20:24) promised for obedience describes an ecologically blessed land where forage is abundant for livestock and the bees thrive.

For the past decade the world has seen a dramatic collapse of bee colonies, due to a mixture of human-caused factors that are still being studied.

Many crops depend exclusively on bee pollination for production, but 30 percent of bees in the United States and Britain have disappeared in the last 10 years. In some countries the loss is even greater. With such factors pending, it isn’t hard to imagine the mass starvation and disease predicted by the Scriptures before the return of Jesus Christ.

Do we really want another bite?

All it took was one bite, in Eden, to derail the vast blessings available to man. This is not just about food; the consequences echo the ramifications of not trusting God. In a way, it is a contrast of menus, and an object lesson about decisions.

Which menu do we want to live by? Choose the one full of blessings with the easy yoke of obedience.

Nancy Diraison is an East Texas member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. Writing everything from music to blogs is her favorite occupation!

For more about the choices that began in the Garden of Eden, see the article “The Tree of Life” on the Life, Hope & Truth website.