Consider ~ Bread

Bread.  It gets me every time.  Whether it's bagels, pizza, cinnamon rolls or just good home baked fresh out of the oven bread, I just can't seem to resist.  Up until about two weeks ago, I would usually have some form of white bread daily, sometimes multiple times daily.


I think this is where considering has really caused me to stop and think.  Because white bread has a lot of empty calories.  Bread, in and of itself, isn't bad for me.  I don't have to be afraid of it, but I do have to be cautious and really consider what types of bread I'm going to eat.


Just to give you an idea, I used to make breakfast sandwiches with a bagel.  A regular sized bagel has about 300 calories.  So I started changing to two whole wheat mini bagels, which were about 100 calories each, and gave me the illusion I was eating more.  Then I found whole grain mini sandwich thins, which have only 50 calories each.  They also have a lot more flavor and don't make my stomach hurt like bagels do.  My original bagel sandwich, which I made with two slices of american cheese and two eggs and two slices of ham had about 650 calories and was never satisfying has now be replaces with two mini bagel sandwiches made with sandwich thins, one large egg, one slice of white american or swiss cheese, 1 T. bacon bits and 1 T. chopped onion is only 260 calories and is very satisfying.


So it really wasn't the bread itself that was a bad choice, but they type of bread I was choosing.  It was also what I was choosing to put on the bread.  Grains are the same way.  I've noticed that I like oatmeal with just a 1 tsp. of sugar and cinnamon just as much if not more than oatmeal with 3 tsp. of sugar, cinnamon and milk.  It was also MORE satisfying.


But then I have to consider why it has been more satisfying.  Is it really just the food choices I'm making, or is it something more?  Maybe it is because I'm considering, not what I want, but what God wants for me.


Consider this passage of scripture:

Deuteronomy 8

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Forget the LORD

 ¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

 ⁶ Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.


 ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.


 ¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ²⁰ Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

I think the core of why I was overeating was because I had forgotten God and His promises.  The gods I had begun to worship were food, the opinions of others, entertainment and quite frankly myself.  And if you really think about it, why does God destroy nations that forget get Him?  Is it truly because He is unjust?  I think it is because He is merciful, because when you forget God you slowly start to destroy yourself.  


I am saved, it doesn't mean necessarily that I'm living the way I should.  I should be in the promised land, full of peace and love and hope.  But often I choose to live in the desert and feel sorry for myself as I watch from the outside others prospering.  That is definitely food for thought.


What this speaks to my heart is the daily bread I should be craving is God's Word, then no matter what I eat, I can trust God to have it satisfy and it will.  But I have to trust Him that 1200 calories a day is enough, that water will quench my thirst, that those low calorie but high nutrition foods will fill me and bring me health.   If I do this, he will deliver me from this bondage I've put myself in.