Free Will and Food

In the Bible, God gave us free will. We choose what we do each day, how we talk to our family, how we treat strangers, if we go to mass or watch TV, and what we put in our bodies. What does God say about free will, and how does it apply to food? Well, today we're going to unpack God's gift of free will and how we can use His gift to nourish our bodies and our souls.

What the Bible Says

We start, as everything does, in Genesis. "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'" (Genesis 2:16-17)

The first freedom God gave us was to eat from any tree but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why did God give us this choice? God is kind and loving, He does not want us to be His slaves. He wants us to be His children. Would you treat your children like slaves, forcing them to do exactly as you say for their entire existence? Of course not. You give children guidelines and boundaries, but you don't control their every move. God did the same. He instructed Adam and Eve, but didn't mandate their behavior.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, approaches the topic of free will:

"Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of autonoma - of creatures that worked like machines - would hardly be worth creating." (Lewis p. 48)

Why do we have free will?

God gave us free will because we, in imitation of Him, are meant to love. The closer we get to God, the more ability we have to love. But we can only do this by choice, not by force.

The problem is that we don't always want to put God first. We are selfish creatures. I want what I want and I don't want anything different. Wanting isn't bad, in fact, having wants is inherently good. We want good things for ourselves, we care about ourselves and therefore we try to take care of ourselves. But we weren't created to depend on ourselves. God created us to depend on Him. In the words of C.S. Lewis:

"Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other." (Lewis p. 50)

God is food for our spirits.

He wants us to feed ourselves with Him and he gave us the choice. It's up to us. Each day we decide: feed ourselves with worldly foods or feed ourselves with God.

Free Will and Food

While in this context, the term 'food' can be interpreted broadly, referring to your job, the TV show you're addicted to, or your phone, I want to focus on food in the literal definition.

We have this choice: fueling with food or fueling with God. Obviously, we have to eat food. We need it for bodily survival. But as Christians we believe in more than bodily survival. We believe in eternal life in heaven, living long after we depart from our bodies. What, then is the importance of food, when we have the free will to eat and when we will eventually leave our bodies?

In choosing to be Christian, in choosing to believe in God, we must choose, first and foremost, to feed ourselves with Him. That is our call. Since we also HAVE to eat to live, we should choose to eat in a way that emulates our initial choice. That is, our choice in food should reflect our choice in God. We know that God loves us and wants the best for us, so we should choose food that reflects that love.

What kind of food reflects love?

Food that nourishes our bodies. Food that prevents disease. Food that promotes health. Food that tastes good. Food that God would feed us. Food that God did feed us.

In my recent post, What is the Daniel Fast?, I discussed the food God gave us in the Garden of Eden (conveniently, right before He gave us free will): plants. The plant family consists of the healthiest foods on the planet. Plants nourish our bodies, prevent disease, promote health, taste good (try: delicious), and are the foods that God gave to us.

Now, we have a choice to make, given to us by God through the gift of free will, to choose Him, and in choosing Him, to choose for ourselves what He chose for us.

What will you choose?