May 14, 2024

FOOD DOES NOT COMMEND OR CONDEMN

1 Corinthians 8:8

But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.

Personal Challenge

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, we follow various disciplines with fasting. The objective is to use something that we all need, and rely on, to discipline our physical bodies in order to learn how to discipline our entire being, body, soul, and spirit. We must be very diligent to not let this practice become a stumbling block to us or our neighbor. For too often, people use their fasting rules to try to one up one another. This is when it becomes a sin. Food, or the practice of fasting from it, does not commend us to God nor interfere with our relationship with Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!