Eating for Fuel Instead of Fun

Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. Exodus 40:36-37

If you read my blog regularly, it’s probably easy to get the impression that I used to struggle but that now, I think I’ve got life all figured out. I don’t of course. I still have my struggles and lately, I’ve been struggling with something. So, today’s blog is about that struggle. . .

Last fall, my wife and I hired a nutrition coach to help us with our eating. We made a financial commitment to it, downloaded the app, and tracked our macronutrients meticulously. And we did well, both meeting our goals. My purpose was to lose fat while learning to eat differently. I didn’t want to go on a diet. I wanted to change my entire approach to food. For six or seven months, I did that, learning to eat that which is healthy for my body instead of eating whatever I wanted. Gradually though, over the last couple of months, I’ve been struggling with this. While I was putting daily effort into it, I did well. In my success though, I let up on my efforts. I let go of the coaching, stopped tracking my daily intake, and gradually drifted back to my old ways – Eating whatever I want instead of that which is healthy. Of course, the scale and the mirror have reflected my poor choices. So now, in my struggle, I’m in the process of turning it around, getting back to doing whatever it takes to make good choices – doing what’s healthy, instead of whatever I want.

To me, this is the lesson of today’s passage. In it, the Israelites invested deeply of their time, effort, and wealth to build the tabernacle, centering their entire lives around God. Once the tabernacle was built, God settled on it in the form of a cloud. When the cloud was present in the tabernacle, the people stayed put. When the cloud moved, they moved. Daily, they made their decision based on God’s will, not their own. When God said travel, they traveled. When God said stay, they stayed.

I’m not saying that being a Christian means I never get what I want. I’m saying that my appetite for immediate gratification isn’t healthy – physically or spiritually. What I want impulsively desire in the moment doesn’t usually bring me lasting joy. If I want to experience authentic life, joy, and peace, I must continually make choices that lead to life, joy, and peace. My right-now appetite rarely gets me there. So daily, I must do whatever it takes to choose that which is healthy and good, instead of choosing whatever I want.