What are we allowed to eat? When our sons were young, we watched our older son rescue our younger son. The younger son was just beginning to crawl. He saw a mealworm on the carpet, grabbed it and instinctively moved to put it in his mouth. His brother hollered, grabbed the mealworm from his chubby fingers before it became a worm-meal and threw it away. This is love!
Why did God care what the Israelites ate? As they moved through the wilderness, hunger and thirst caused problems. God gave them rules to distinguish between unclean and clean foods. Cows were ok to eat, pigs were not. Some of the reasons are logical. One of our ministers noted that pigs are scavengers. So, also, catfish which have fins but no scales. God wanted his people to be healthy. But more importantly, God wanted them to be holy. Life was about worship. Disobedience in eating an “unclean” animal would defile them and keep them out of worship.
Crickets have never looked appetizing to me. On the other hand, I have never battled real hunger. I have seen people eat insects on television shows. Again, no interest. After Peter saw his vision of the tent with the unclean animals, the dietary laws of the Old Testament were mostly no longer binding on followers of Jesus. Paul would later write that the law was given so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more (Romans 5:20-21).
Dietary laws should not consume our energy and attention. Holiness is a different matter, though. God is still holy. He still wants his people to be holy. To be holy is to belong to God and to set our lives apart for him alone. Let us carefully consider: is there any sin in our lives that we have become comfortable with? For your sake, for the sake of God’s people, for God’s sake, throw it away. We have been bought at a price. So we glorify God by setting ourselves apart for him alone.
The singing group Addison Road asks in a song, “What do I know of holy?” Good question. Do we want to know more of God’s holiness? Let us ask. He will show us and remove all unrighteousness far from us. This is love!
