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The Quiet Strength of a Thinking Man

During this season of Advent I am thinking of Joseph. He was the man God called to be the foster father on earth of Jesus. His call came unexpectedly from two sources, from news that Mary gave him, and from a dream God sent him.

We might imagine the scene: Mary, his betrothed wife-to-be, approaching him, eyes to the ground. “Joseph, I have something to tell you.” She was pregnant. He knew this was not his doing. This seeming betrayal was the greatest disappointment of his life. The shock was beyond words. His sadness inconsolable.

As a faithful Jew, he knew enough of the Torah to know that he could either publicly expose Mary’s apparent infidelity, shaming her, and possibly risking her life, or divorce her privately. The gospel of Matthew gives us the story (Matthew 1:18-20).

Joseph was a thinking man. “He considered this,” the text says. His mind ranged back and forth. On the one hand, guided by his heart, he loved Mary and felt a need to try to protect her from public scandal. On the other hand, guided by his head, he had a reputation as a righteous man, and he must have felt a duty to safeguard his own good name. The law of Moses permitted divorce in cases like this. That is what he was inclined to do. Until . . . he received a message from heaven.

We call it divine intervention. An instance when God shows up and speaks with unmistakable clarity. The Bible is full of instances like this. When life is at its worst, when people are pulled in opposite directions and they don’t know what to do, or when they are overwhelmed with sorrow, the Lord reveals his will. God sent a messenger to Joseph with gentle guidance.

“After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins'” (Matthew 1:20-21).

“A son,” not “your son.” Matthew adds the interpretation from the prophet Isaiah, “They will call him Immanuel — which means God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He will be conceived by the Holy Spirit, a miraculous conception and birth. He will be “God with us,” divine and sinless. He will be a male child, fully human.

In Bible times, dreams were reliable media for transmitting divine guidance. This was the first of four dreams Joseph would receive from the Lord. In this respect he is like the Old Testament Joseph for whom he was named. He responded to the message with faith and obedience.

He knew what to do. “He did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25).

As a thinking man, Joseph was open to divine guidance.. He accepted by faith the message from heaven. The holy angel confirmed what Mary had already told him, that she was a virgin (Luke 1:34). He did as he was directed and gave the baby the name Jesus, which means “savior,” or “deliverer.”

As you and I contemplate this, let’s be like Joseph, obedient to God’s revealed will. Let’s be like Joseph, thinking things through and responding with faith in God’s word.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

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The Quiet Strength of a Working Man

Joseph has been referred to as the forgotten man of the Christmas story. We have no record of his words. But his actions are heroic and strong. I see Joseph as an appealing figure, a man who was willing to risk public ridicule to take as his wife a pregnant teenager whose baby was not his own. Then he took the family on a secret escape at night to save the baby’s life.

Joseph’s story has the makings of an adventure tale full of intrigue. If it were made into a movie, it would be one guys would enjoy. Men enjoy action, suspense, competition and they admire heroes who risk their lives for others.

The Bible is full of examples of heroic men who were willing to take risks to serve God. Men like Moses, Elijah, David, Daniel, Peter and Paul were leaders who were intensely committed to God. I would not hesitate to put Joseph in their company. He was a manly man who obeyed the will of God for his life.

In this space for the next few weeks, I want to think about the good character of Joseph. This will help us, I trust, to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Hopefully Joseph will cease to be a forgotten man but will receive some much-deserved recognition and emulation.

Joseph is described in the Bible as a working man. The Bible exalts labor. Work done with excellence is virtuous. Our work is a part of our calling. Joseph’s calling was to be a carpenter (Matthew 13:55). The title “carpenter” in the Greek language could also apply to a stone mason or to a builder in general.

Joseph was a craftsman who worked with his hands. He lived in Nazareth but he was not a Galilean by birth. He was originally from Bethlehem in Judea. Possibly he had moved north because that is where the jobs were. The town of Sepphoris, not far from Nazareth, was under construction at the time, archaeologists tell us. Maybe Joseph was employed in this big construction project.

Or perhaps he was known for his service to his neighbors in Nazareth as a maker of wagons, yokes, cabinets, furniture, windows, and door frames. There has always been a need for the skills of men like Joseph.

I imagine Joseph as a man with a big chest, bulging biceps, and rough, strong hands. In my mind’s eye I see him shaking sawdust out of his beard, and pouring water over his head to wash himself at the end of the day. I can see him setting his tools aside and talking with Mary as she brings him a simple meal which they enjoy together as the sun goes down.

This is background to the Christmas story. It was to this Joseph, a working man, that was entrusted the rearing of the Son of God.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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More Than Turkey Day

A man received a parrot as a gift. The bird had a bad attitude, and every word out of its mouth was rude.

The man tried to change the bird’s attitude by speaking politely, playing soft music, and teaching it a new vocabulary. Nothing worked. Fed up, the man yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. He shook the parrot, but it became more rude.

In desperation, he shoved the bird into the freezer. For a while, the parrot squawked and screamed. Then it was quiet. Not a peep was heard for more than a minute.

Fearing he had hurt the bird, the man opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out and said, “I believe I have offended you with my rude and crude language. I am sincerely remorseful and I intend to do whatever I can to correct my bad behavior.”

The man was stunned. As he was about to ask the parrot what had so dramatically changed its behavior, the bird continued, “May I ask what the turkey did?”

With “turkey day” approaching, our thoughts turn to those quintessentially American traditions: football and feasting. Most of us have good memories of gathering around a table laden with sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and of course, roast turkey.

When we were young, my brothers and I would spend the afternoon playing touch football with boys from the neighborhood. Pro football games were on tv, usually featuring the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys.

And there was “black Friday” shopping. People went to the malls to see and be seen. Movie attendance was up.

Maybe you have noticed. I have been able to write about the holiday without naming it. I do that to make a point. It is possible to enjoy Thanksgiving Day without expressing thanks. The media steer us from naming “the holidays.” Maybe that’s because “Thanksgiving” implies that there is One to whom we should be thankful.

With everything else we enjoy that day let’s call it what it is and use our freedom of speech to “praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Let’s teach our children the art of appreciation.

Let’s take time on November 28 to give thanks for America’s heritage of freedom and to pray that it will continue.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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A Song for Dangerous Times

I suspect that about half of the American population are unhappy with the outcome of the recent national election. The other half are elated. I fervently hope and pray that the American people will respect and follow the U.S. Constitution and will seek national reconciliation.

I hope that those who know the Lord, whatever their political leanings, will remember that Christ is the king of kings before whom all human rulers must someday bow in submission. Jesus is sovereign over all nations. Believers’ ultimate hope is not in politics but in Christ.

We live in unsettled times. Domestic unrest and world events can cause us to feel wobbly, insecure, and off kilter. That is why I find comfort in the phrases of Psalm 91. It was written for dangerous times like these.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:1-2).

This tells us how we can have rest in our spirits when our lives are sheltered in God. The writer (most likely Moses) is professing his sense of personal security in his relationship to the Lord. The psalm parallels the story line of the book of Exodus. The nation of Israel had been rescued from Egypt. They experienced God’s protection as they travelled through the wilderness of Sinai.

“Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:3-4).

Despite the dangers mentioned in the psalm, God’s people are promised the Lord’s protection: soft, when it needs to be, like a mother bird nurturing her young; hard, when it needs to be, warding off the threats and blows of enemies. The dangers are real. People of faith do, in fact, fall victim to diseases, disasters, and death. Psalm 91 is a realistic assessment of the world as it is.

But the psalmist also wants us to know God as he is and to live in a close relationship to him. In Psalm 91 he recalls four different names of God which reveal different aspects of his character. God is the “Most High,” the exalted one, the living and true God.

He is the “Almighty,” the all-powerful, all-sufficient God. He is called “the Lord” or Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. This is the name by which he reveals himself in relation to his people. He is faithful to his promises.

Then he is identified as “my God.” This name for God in Hebrew points to his transcendence. He is the sovereign of eternity and of creation. This great God is “my God,” says the writer.

This surprising familiarity with God is accented by three titles that describe the believer’s relationship to God. He is “refuge,” “shelter,” and “fortress,” a secure place of safety in a dangerous world. This reminds me of Proverbs 18:10 — “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

I have been thinking about Psalm 91 in relation to the uncertainties and threats we face in America and around the world. We must acknowledge that God’s people are not immune from disease, disasters, and death. The troubles of the world do sometimes reach God’s beloved children. We might be perplexed and puzzled by this until we read Psalm 91:15.

The Lord is speaking. “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”

The psalm writer looks at the world as it is and to God as he is and he brings them together. The comforts and promises of this psalm are not unreasonable or beyond belief. “I will be with him IN trouble,” not necessarily escaping it. It is the presence of the Lord that gives rest, security, and courage in the time of trouble.

Reading the headlines from online news sources can fuel anxiety. Extremists talk openly about civil war in America. Political commentators on the left and on the right wonder about the future of democracy. Some citizens are bracing themselves for political violence. Suspicion and fear of those on the other side of the political divide can make us forgetful of God’s sovereignty over human rulers.

It seems clear that the psalm writer wants us to see another dimension, that of eternity. This is to be the Christian’s outlook. Romans 8:35-37 tells us that “IN all these things (earthly troubles) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  No harm can separate the believer from the love of Christ. We are told that in times of danger and trouble we can learn to recognize God’s presence and unfailing love. IN dangerous times we will not be forgotten or forsaken.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Who Do You Think You Are?

When God introduced himself to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, he spoke from a bush that was on fire and told Moses to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground.

When Moses asked how God wanted to be identified, God said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). This is a way of saying, “I am the one who exists. I was, I always will be, and I am always the same.” This is related to the name Yahweh, or Jehovah. This name for God means that he is the eternally self-existent God.

Jesus Christ used this name of himself in the gospel of John (John 8:42-59). When some religious leaders objected to his teachings, they said, “We are descendants of Abraham. Who do you think you are?” They accused him of being a Samaritan (a despised outsider) and demon-possessed (crazy).

In reply, Jesus made an astounding claim, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. . . .  Before Abraham was born, I AM!” This is clearly a claim to deity. The name “I AM” implies eternal existence. Jesus was saying that he existed before Abraham was born.

Jesus knew what he was saying. He knew that the name “I AM” was recognized in Israel as a title of deity. He was claiming to be divine and his opponents knew it. That is why they picked up stones to stone him to death for blasphemy. Jesus did not deny that that is what he meant to say. His enemies were right. He was claiming to be God in the flesh.

“You are from below,” Jesus had said to them. “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “I am the one I claim to be” (John 8:24, 28).

Statements such as these, if they are not true, must be the babblings of a person with serious mental problems. But Jesus’ powerful miracles and good deeds are not the works of a crazy person with delusions of grandeur. The wisdom of his teachings refutes the false idea that he was out of touch with reality. Multitudes were attracted to his compassion and composure. They recognized the inherent truth and authority of his words. They witnessed the power of God in his miracles.

The fact that Jesus took the divine name for himself meant that he and he alone could meet the deepest needs of human beings. He audaciously made himself the center of his teaching,

He said, “I AM the bread of life” (John 6:35). He used bread as a metaphor for eternal salvation. If people will eat the spiritual bread God provides, they will live forever, he said (John 8:51, 58).

“I AM the light of the world,” Jesus said (John 8:12). Darkness pictures ignorance, sin and death. Light pictures salvation. “God is light” (1 John 1:5).

“I AM the gate” (John 10:7-9). “Whoever enters through me shall be saved.”

“I AM the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). The shepherd of Israel was the Lord himself (Psalm 23:1). “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

At the graveside of his friend Lazarus Jesus announced, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies” (John 11:35). Then he proceeded to raise Lazarus from the dead. This happened in the presence of eyewitnesses. Even Jesus’ enemies could not deny or refute this miracle (John 11:45-48).

“I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He could not make a claim like this and not be divine. He was saying “I am your only way to God. I am your only way to heaven.” Why would he say this? Because he is truly the son of God and God the son.

Then he said to his disciples, “I AM the true vine” (John 15:1,5). You are the branches. Remain close to me (abide in me) and draw your life from me and you will bear fruit.

If you were to ask Jesus, “Who do you think you are?” he would calmly reply, “I AM.”

He is the one who was, who is, and who always will be. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). As the eternally divine son of God, Jesus has the authority to give eternal life to those who put their faith in him. He said so and I believe him. Do you?

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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October 31 – Reformation Day

On October 31, 1517, a little over 500 years ago, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther invited church authorities to debate some church practices which he believed were in violation of scripture. He nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, where he was a university professor. These proposals were translated from Latin into German, printed, and quickly circulated throughout Germany.

Luther was objecting to the sale of indulgences by representatives of the church. These were certificates guaranteeing deliverance from Purgatory, and offering the false promise that salvation could be obtained by the payment of money. Having discovered the happy assurance that “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17), Luther protested that salvation is only through faith in Christ, apart from good works. “The true treasure of the church,” Luther wrote, “is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.”

This event is seen as sparking the Protestant Reformation which is being remembered this weekend in many churches around the world. The main themes of the Reformation have been summarized in five distinctive declarations about salvation: it is based upon scripture alone, through Christ alone, it is by faith alone, by grace alone, and thus all glory goes to God alone.

The beliefs we find in these five statements set Luther and his fellow reformers apart from the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. Scripture alone (sola scriptura), taught that the Bible as the inspired Word of God is the final authority, not  papal edicts and decrees. Christ alone (solus Christus) is the belief that it is only through Jesus that sinners may be justified and reconciled to God. Faith alone (sola fide) asserts that salvation is through faith in Christ, apart from works or human effort. Grace alone (sola gratia), means that salvation is a free gift from God. Because of this, God alone receives all praise and glory (soli Deo gloria).

One of the key texts on which the reformers’ doctrine of justification by faith rests is Romans 3:24, “…  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” “Justified” means to be declared righteous. This involves the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer’s account. This is the basis for the believer’s acceptance before God. “Freely” means that justification is a gift of God’s grace, completely apart from human works or merit. It is possible only because of the “redemption” of sinners by Christ when he died on the cross. His sacrifice was the ransom price to God to satisfy the justice required by his holy law.

When Luther studied the book of Romans and discovered the meaning of justification by faith, it set his spirit free. He learned that salvation comes not through vigils, fasts, pilgrimages, or monastic discipline, but by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. That same freedom of grace is available to you if your faith is in Jesus Christ, and in him alone.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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God Bless America

During the seventh-inning stretch at some Atlanta Braves baseball games, a tenor soloist sings “God Bless America.” The beauty of the song and the sight of thousands of fans joining in, puts a lump in my throat. I too want God to bless America and I pray for that every day.

The moral decline and divisions in our nation have prompted a renewed urgency in many people of faith. Pray for America yard signs, Facebook posts and church prayer gatherings indicate that there are believers who are looking to God for his guidance in this contentious election year. But the thought remains: why should God bless America?

Are we entitled to his blessings when over half of the adults in America claim no membership in any church or religious institution, and the number of adults who say they believe in God is on the decline, according to Gallop polls?

Should God bless an America where in all but thirteen states it is still legal to kill a human baby inside his/her mother’s womb? Can God bless an America which legitimizes sexual behavior that his word says is abominable? Will he bless racial hatred, internet misinformation (lies), mass shootings, the breakup of families, and a political culture of cruelty and incivility?

It is chilling to read the writings of the prophet Jeremiah. Recently I read chapters 6-9 in which he declared God’s intention to punish his chosen people for their sins. (Maybe the Jews heard Jeremiah preach and wished God would choose somebody else!) He prophesied judgment on the surrounding nations too, but Judah and Jerusalem were not spared.

Jeremiah told them why. Falsehood, greed, violence, theft, murder, adultery, idol worship, and child sacrifice were among the sins for which God’s inevitable judgment was coming, Added to these was Judah’s stubborn refusal to repent and to obey the word of God. This reminds me of America.

As I pray for America I sometimes recall the words of President Thomas Jefferson: “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” President Abraham Lincoln said that the war between the states was a judgment on America by the Almighty as punishment for the wickedness of slavery.

History confirms what Jeremiah predicted. The nations of Edom, Moab, Syria, Assyria and Egypt were overrun by the powerful and cruel Babylonian army. Jeremiah’s prophecy about Judah also proved true: “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there” (Jeremiah 9:11).

If God judged those nations, can we be so glib and complacent as to assume that God will overlook America’s offenses against him? The election won’t solve the problem of America’s moral decline. Neither presidential candidate can effect the spiritual renewal we need. Politics is not the solution. It simply holds up a mirror to America and shows us what we have become. When we look into that mirror, we want to cry, “God help us!”

Well that’s what we need to  be saying. It is time for prayer, desperate prayer. Our intellectual power, military power, and economic power cannot save us. Only God can restore the soul of our nation. It’s all right to sing “God Bless America.”  But we also ought to be praying prayers of repentance and begging God to be merciful and to forgive our sins.

Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord, put it this way: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Vance Havner wrote, “There is a weird and sinister movement of the powers of darkness all over the world today. One of its major objectives is to destroy America. It will not be necessary to do that from without: we are allowing it to be accomplished from within. . . . It is time for holy desperation because it is too late for everything else.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Safe in the Storm

A friend smiled at me and said, “I have two words for you: hunker down!” He was right. The third hurricane to hit our town in just two years was headed in our direction. Longtime residents of Valdosta, Georgia, tell me that the force of these storms this far inland is unprecedented. Last year Hurricane Idalia devastated our little city. Hurricane Debby hit us in August of this year.

Friends of our daughter Carrie invited us to ride out Hurricane Helene in their spacious and beautiful home in the country. They had a generator with enough power to provide electricity for several days. Their big, strong house was like a fortress. We felt welcomed and we are grateful to our friends for providing that safe haven for Connie and me.

Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area the evening of September 26. It marched north and hit Valdosta about midnight. The next morning uprooted trees  and downed power lines blocked roadways. My son-in-law and grandsons hoisted chainsaws and helped our host clear fallen trees and debris near his house. All day we heard reports of widespread damage and power outages throughout Valdosta

Since we knew it would be a while until electricity would be restored to our neighborhood, Connie and I decided to evacuate to our daughter Mary’s home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We stayed there for a week until we got power again at home. During that week we followed the news about the terrible effects of flooding in Appalachia caused by the hurricane.

Coincidentally, we had visited friends just a few weeks before in Asheville and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and in Connie’s hometown of Damascus, Virginia. Like the rest of the nation we were saddened by the stories of catastrophic destruction of property and loss of life throughout the region.

I have been without internet service from September 27 until the date of this writing, October 14. That is why I have been unable to write new entries for hiswillblog,com.

Connie and I are thankful to the Lord for his provision and protection. The words to a gospel song by Mosie Lister have been on my mind.

“In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face / While the storm howls above me, and there’s no hiding place. / ‘Mid the crash of the thunder, precious Lord hear my cry. / Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

“Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more, / till the clouds roll forever from the sky; / hold me fast, let me stand, in the hollow of your hand. / Keep me safe till the storm passes by. ”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Who’s the Real Hero?

She had sad eyes and a weary expression. She appeared to be in ill health. As we conversed I learned that she had worked all her life as a waitress. Her husband had died as a young man. They had been married only seven years. She had been left to rear her daughter as a single mother. Her life had not been easy.

Her expression brightened as she talked about her only child. She proudly told me how her daughter has made a success of her life, helping hundreds of families through her profession as a pediatric dentist. I congratulated my new friend on being a good mom and giving her daughter a good foundation for life. I asked, “How did you manage to do it?”

She answered, “I couldn’t have done it without the Lord. He was with me. He helped me.”

This humble Christian woman is living proof that John Lennon was a false prophet. He was a cultural hero during my high school years. In the 1960s he famously and foolishly predicted that the Beatles would, in ten years, be more popular than Jesus Christ. Lennon is long gone and so are the Beatles.

But here, in the year 2024, is a woman testifying to the living presence of a living Savior who has been with her all her long life and remains with her today. How are we to explain this?

Dallas Willard provided an answer in his book The Divine Conspiracy. “I think we finally have to say that Jesus’ enduring relevance is based on his historically proven ability to speak to, to heal and empower, the individual human condition. He matters because of what he brought and what he still brings to ordinary human beings, living their ordinary lives and coping daily with their surroundings. He promises wholeness for their lives. In sharing our weakness he gives us strength and imparts through his companionship a life that has the quality of eternity.”

The woman with the sad eyes and weary expression has had a hard life. But she is praising Jesus and looking forward to eternity with him. She has had an indirect influence on every life touched by her daughter. To me she is a real hero. I think she will be at the front of the line when the rewards are handed out in heaven.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Why Pray Before Meals?

I was eating in a local restaurant. I observed a young couple as they occupied a booth across the room. When their food arrived, they held hands, bowed their heads, closed their eyes, and prayed before they ate.

Why did they do this?  A cynic might say that it was just an expression of Bible-belt cultural religiosity. Someone else might accuse them of putting on a show of piety, like the legalistic Pharisees of Jesus’s day who made long public prayers for the sake of appearance.

I’d like to think they prayed because they were sincerely grateful to God. I hope it was because they believed it was important to express thanks to our Creator for his good gifts. Whatever their motivations, I offer three reasons to grace our eating and drinking with thanksgiving.

The example of Jesus

On more than one occasion our Lord blessed food before he ate with others. When he miraculously fed the five thousand, and later the four thousand, he looked up toward heaven and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving (Matthew 14:19, 15:36). When he ate the Passover meal in the upper room, he “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples” (Matthew 26:26).

Jesus shared a meal with two of his followers after his resurrection. They did not recognize who he was until “he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them” (Luke 24:30). If the Son of God thought it was necessary to give thanks before eating, should we do less?

A habit of gratitude

The New Testament exalts thankfulness, “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). When the apostle Paul said that as a liberated Christian, he was free to eat all kinds of foods, he was careful to add, “with thankfulness” (1 Corinthians 10:30, 1 Timothy 4:3). So we find him aboard a ship giving thanks to God for food in the presence of unbelieving prisoners, soldiers, and seamen, “in front of them all” (Acts 27:35).

In his instructions about foods and Christian liberty, Paul said, “He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God” (Romans 14:6). In the same letter to the Romans he warned against ingratitude as a symptom of ungodliness (Romans 1:21). The Christian way of life is to cultivate a lifelong habit of gratitude, for all of life’s blessings, including nourishing food (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Consecrated by prayer

Another reason to pray for God’s blessing on our meals is because God created food  and “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:5). “Consecrated” means set apart or dedicated for a good purpose.

The good purpose of God’s gift of food is to satisfy our hunger and to promote our health. Objectively, the food is consecrated by the word of God which declares his creation as “good” (Genesis 1). Subjectively, the food is consecrated by prayer as we acknowledge where these gifts come from and we say “thank you!” The foods which sustain us are transformed into life-giving energy as they are consecrated for our use by our gracious Creator.

Here are three good reasons to give thanks to God for our food before we eat it. Jesus did it. The Bible tells us to do it. Prayer dedicates the food for our benefit. It is the right thing to do.

Recently, I enjoyed a round of golf with friends. Three of us went to the clubhouse for lunch. When we got our food, one of my companions said matter-of-factly, “Let me bless this.” Then he prayed simply, expressing thanks to God for the food, and for a beautiful day on the golf course.

Why did he do that? I believe it was because he knows where the blessing of food comes from, and he wanted to express appreciation on behalf of all of us. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Pastor Randy Faulkner