Becoming Chewish

I want you to seriously consider becoming a Chewish Christian.  There was no spelling error there.  I am not asking you to become a Jewish Christian but a Chewish Christian (rhymes with Jewish, though).  Are you ready to bite (get it:  Chewish Christian; ready to bite!  I crack myself up)?  What is a Chewish Christian?  A Chewish Christian is one who thoroughly chews (“reads, marks, learns, and inwardly digests”) the Word of God that they might “ever embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which God has given us in our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Now I have to confess that the term, Chewish, or as I originally heard it, Chewdiism, did not originate with me.  I was listening to talk radio recently and heard an interview with AJ Jacobs concerning his new book, “Drop Dead Healthy:  One man’s Quest for Bodily Perfection.”  AJ Jacobs is the editor-at-large of Esquire Magazine and the author of “The Year of Living Biblically” and “The Know It All”.  In his interview, Jacobs used the term chewdiism to advance the need for people to get in the habit of chewing their food more before they swallow to get the maximum benefit out of eating. 

Now you can find out about anything by going to the internet, so I looked up some information about chewing.  I came across this online article on healthy foods and found that there is this whole scientific explanation for the art of chewing.  (I am putting in the link here for you to read on your own when and if you want to read it.  It is fascinating.  Here goes:  http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=36.) 

Now it wasn’t the science of eating that got me to thinking about being a Chewish Christian and my attempt to reel you into being one as well.  It was the part about having a relationship with your food that got me thinking about all of this.  Part of the article I read had this to say about having a relationship with your food—“We feel that instead of prescribing a set number of chews for each biteful that people should instead get a sense of their own eating, and develop more of a relationship with their food, enhancing their own knowingness about what is best for their health . . . The benefits of thoroughly chewing your food will extend beyond improved digestion. It will cause you to slow down when you are eating, making more space for the enjoyment of your meal. Food will begin to taste even better when there is more focus and concentration on the process and act of eating. By chewing your food well, you will be able to better enjoy the benefits of the World's Healthiest Foods - their abundance of nutrients and great, lively tastes.”

A relationship with your food?  Now I have heard everything!  But wait.  Maybe that’s not such a far-out idea after all.  Let’s face it, we do eat too fast.  Maybe if we did slow down we would eat less, and enjoy our food, and the conversation of those we are eating with, more.  Now here comes the part about being a Chewish Christian.  The Bible uses the analogy of eating with that of reading the Word of God.  Jesus in John 6 speaks of eating and drinking his blood.  Now he isn’t referencing the Lord’s Supper, as chronologically it hasn’t occurred yet.  But he is speaking about putting our faith and trust in him to really, truly live.  Peter writes in chapter 2:2 of his first letter, “Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”   Paul picks up on that thought in I Corinthians 3:2.  And the writer of Hebrews 5:12ff says this about the connection between eating and studying the Word of God:  “You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”   

The Scriptures definitely equate eating and drinking to reading and studying God’s Word.  So maybe we should be applying what we know about the scientific and practical aspects of chewing food for our bodies to our need to be in the Word of God on a daily basis and feeding our souls.  Far too many Christians have the Bible in their home as a rabbit’s foot to bring them spiritual “good luck (grace?)” and have no clue what it really says.  How many “Christians” use the words “I think” rather than “The Word of God says”?  And how many “Christians” come to church on Sunday morning for the worship service and slip out just as fast as they slipped in?  These are all signs of being an infant in Christ (or worse yet, still gestating in the womb and yet to be “born again”). 

And those of us who do spend time in daily reading the Bible, are we just going through the motions—hurriedly reading through the passage (pericope) so we can say we had devotions and then get on with our day?  Perhaps we need to slow down and get a “sense” of ourselves and our relationship with God through his Word.  We will find ourselves not only growing in our knowledge of the Scriptures, but of God himself.  We will come to understand him more and more and see things from his perspective and vantage point rather than ours; We will be able to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong; we will become more deeply rooted in Christ, thus able to weather the storms of life and stand up and make a defense of the hope that is within us.  As we savor each morsel of his Word to us we will become more and more equipped for every good work.  And greatest of all we find new life in Christ and eternal life in Christ!

I don’t know about you, but I am going to start chewing my food more—both that which is on my fork and that which I find in God’s Word.  I am going to be bullishly Chewish; a Chewish Christian.  Won’t you join me?

Staying Young

Abraham was 100 years old when it happened to him.  Moses was 80 years old when it happened to him.  What happened?  At 100 God called Abraham to be a father.  At 80 God called Moses to lead his people out of Israel.  Imagine becoming a father at the age of 100.  My word, my grandkids wear me out now when I am with them and I am only in my 50’s.  My worst nightmare would be to have another child at this point in my life.  I have grown accustomed to the way my life is without children in the home.  And imagine starting a whole new career at 80.  What would an 80 year old know about computers and social media and all of the new-fangled electronics that are used today in the workplace?  The workplace would have to seem to be a foreign place.  And who at 80 would want to be starting a whole new career.  Too much work!  And yet Abraham embraced fatherhood and Moses embraced leading Israel.

While these two men were “old” physically and in number of years, they certainly weren’t “old” in the way they thought and acted.  I would dare to say that one of the things that kept Abraham and Moses young was the faith that the Lord had authored and perfected within them.  These two men had grown to the point where their faith had become so deep and wide that they began to see their lives and the world they lived in, not with their own eyes, but with God’s eyes.  They reached the point where they were more interested in what the Lord wanted than what they wanted.  It was indeed, all about HIM!  And so they were able to put off to the side and out of the equation any thoughts they might have had that were tied to time and age.

So does faith help keep us young, and if so, how so?  When Jacob was administering the rationing of food for Pharaoh there came a point where he introduced his father, Jacob, to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was.  The secret to staying young in heart and living life to the full well into “old” physical age is found in Jacob’s response.  He said, “The years of my pilgrimage are a 130.  My years are few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”  Jacob didn’t look at his life in terms of numbers and age like most of us do.  Most of us look at our lives in terms of life in this world and then we die and that is it.  Hence we mark the number of years we have “lived”.  Jacob, due to faith in the redemption that was his in the promised Savior, looked at his life in terms of eternity—eternity comprising life here in time and then in glory with the Lord where there is no time.  Time when compared to forever and ever is a pinpoint on a “timeline”.  Thus Jacob says that his years, even though they are 130 in time, are by comparison to eternity, few. 

Secondly, by faith Jacob looked at his life as a pilgrimage, a journey if you will; he saw himself walking with God in time and then in eternity.  Life wasn’t about how long one “lived” but about being in fellowship with the Lord forever.  Jacob’s life was all about growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God.  His life, like that of his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham, was all about his relationship with God and serving Him and not himself.  Faith had so shaped these men that they saw the world from God’s point of view rather than from a worldly point of view.

In a sense, faith did keep Moses and Abraham young.  (Most Christians, truth be told figure on retiring some day and letting the younger Christians in the church take over.  It’s the “I took my turn, now it’s yours” attitude.)   These two people of faith accomplished great things for the Lord in their “old” age without old age defining them and limiting them.  It’s good that we be reminded of this, because all the indicators are that the church is aging—that young people are not going to be as active and participatory in the life of the church.  And so while the church may have people who are “old” when it comes to age that doesn’t translate into us acting as if we are old.  We could even go so far as to say that our best years and the best years of the church and (Insert the name of your congregation here) are yet to come!