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    March 25, 1902

    “Why Do We Eat?” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 12.

    EJW

    E. J. Waggoner

    Everyone would doubtless say that we eat in order to live, although the way in which very many people eat tends to death more than to life, and thousands upon thousands die solely as the result of wrong habits of eating, both as regards the kind of food, and manner of preparing and eating it. However, it is a fact that God has given us food in order to sustain our lives, but it is also a fact that He designs that we should have much more life than can be obtained merely by eating. The life that can be obtained only by means of food differs in no respect from that of the dumb beast, and God designs that man should possess life far superior and much more abundant. God could have ordained it so that we could live without eating. Many instances are on record where men have been kept in full strength and vigor without food, the most notable being that of Moses, who on two different occasions went forty days and forty nights without food or drink, and although he was engaged in active work all the time, he was in possession of his usual strength at the close. Jesus sat weary and hungry on Jacob’s well, yet when the disciples came back with food, and urged Him to eat, He seemed to have been already satisfied, and said, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” John 4:32.ARSH March 25, 1902, page 181.1

    Why then are we made dependent on our daily food? The answer is plain: In order that we may recognize and acknowledge our dependence upon God. If there were no visible means of sustenance, if God poured His invisible life into us without any visible means,-we would all come to believe ourselves to be gods, having life in ourselves, and not dependent upon God. The truth is that we are absolutely dependent upon God for “life, and breath, and all things,” and the continuation of our life throughout eternity depends upon our abiding in Him; therefore the Lord has made it so plain to us that we derive our life from Him, and not from ourselves. If we do not recognize Him in the visible gifts that He bestows, we will not of course accept the greater life through the reception of the Spirit; but if in all our ways we acknowledge Him, we may be sure that He will give us life “more abundantly.” “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”ARSH March 25, 1902, page 181.2

    While we cannot get righteousness by eating and drinking, we may thereby show our appreciation or lack of appreciation of the gift of life and righteousness through Jesus Christ, “who is our life.” The life that we receive in the food that we eat is the life of the Lord, for there is no other; if therefore when we have the very best food given to us,-food that contains the Life in the purest possible form,-we deliberately choose that which is inferior, simply because it pleases our taste better, we show that we would rather please ourselves than to have the fullness of the life of the Lord. When we do so, although we may acknowledge that our life comes from the Lord, we at the best virtually say that we are quite content with a small measure of it; we want the Lord, but not too much of Him.ARSH March 25, 1902, page 181.3

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