According to a survey for Christians titled "What is the most tempting thing in your life?" Food was the number one temptation among Christians. Food, temptation to eat too much was the number 1 ranked temptation. Greed, lying, cheating and procrastination, followed food temptation. These results are slightly different from the generally accepted temptations of money, greed and sex. There is not good enough data in this survey to draw the conclusion that because Christians are more sensitive to the temptation of eating than others, that generally Christians are healthier and longer lived than non-Christians. However this recent survey is good enough data to draw the conclusion that we need to pay attention to food control.
A few years ago, the CBC National news reported that for the first time in human history, obesity is causing more deaths than malnutrition. This means that more people are dying because of eating too much than those who are dying because of lack of food. Still some who are living in a poor country are starving to death. However, on the other hand, some who are living in a rich nation like Canada are eating too much to death. This is a great irony in modern society. For us, it is still each individual's freedom of choice to choose which food to eat and decide how much to eat. The survey clearly indicated that the food issue has no longer become a matter of survival, rather it has become an issue of a matter of good and evil, to pass the test or to fail to the temptation.
An interesting point is that the very first temptation of Jesus was food. Before beginning his ministry on the earth, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights and afterward he was famished. The tempter said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But Jesus answered, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:1-4). Of course the context of Jesus' situation was much different from our situation where our temptation is that we have to choose what kinds of food to eat and decide how much to eat. Nevertheless, the Bible clearly points out that food was the first temptation of Jesus. And it was, is and will be the number one priority of choice in our daily life.
Especially the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament talks in detail about what kinds of food are edible and how to distinguish which foods are good for the body. This so called "food code" is covered in many parts of the book with ritual and behavior codes. Some may not agree with all food codes in the book of Leviticus. Before going astray from it and deciding to eat whatever you choose, let us just think about the story behind the Biblical "food code." And read it carefully between the lines to determine why and how some foods are forbidden, even though some are very popular in nearby restaurants. Why, because the story was written by the mouth of God a long time ago. You can choose food to eat, but the food may choose your health.
