Okay, so this topic doesn’t fit with what I usually post, but it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.  And it has to do with parenting boys, so there you go!

It’s hard being a parent these days.

It seems that with all of the information available on the internet, there is a lot of pressure to make the “right” decision about everything when it comes to our families, our homes, and ourselves.  Food is the issue that first jumps to my mind – there are so many blogs about healthy eating and “real food,” and many of them have made food into a moral issue.  The comment sections on food blog posts can get downright ugly!  I had already been thinking about this, and while reading this post today, I came across this post on making food into a moral issue, and I thought that it was right on.

It’s not that I don’t think food is an issue worth considering.  I am currently in the process of making more of our snacks from scratch and working more fresh fruits and veggies into our diet.  Those are healthy things to do, and obviously God wants us to be responsible with our bodies.

However, they are not Biblical issues.

I don’t really want to get into a debate about this, but I’ll mention briefly that there are two places in 1 Corinthians where Paul call believers a “temple of God.”  I’ve heard others use those verses to say that we must eat the best diet possible.  Neither reference (1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19) is referring to food.  The first refers to building the church on Christ as the foundation, and the second refers to immorality.

What’s my point?

Elevating issues in which we are free to make our own (wise) choices to issues of obedience to Scripture creates distraction and a false sense of security in our smart decisions.

I think that Satan is using issues such as food, homeschooling vs. public school, formula feeding, etc. to distract moms from the issues that are Biblical.  And moms are buying into it. Our minds can be so cluttered with articles we read about locally grown foods, cloth diapering, ways to organize on Pinterest, etc. that we have no room left for things that are Biblical issues – such as:

  • Speaking at all times with kind words to our children (Ephesians 4:29)
  • Loving our husbands and children (Titus 2:4)
  • Asking our husbands how they want us to spend our time and what they want the priorities in our homes to be, and then doing those things (Ephesians 5:22-25)
  • Spending a generous amount of time studying the Word and in prayer (Psalm 19)

We can also have a false sense of security that if we just do the “right” things, life will go the way we want it to.  If we fail to care for our teeth, we will reap the consequences of our poor dental hygiene.  On the flip side, however, the Bible does not promise us long life or perfect health if we brush and floss every day or follow a particular diet.  God is sovereign over all, and He uses all for our spiritual benefit – even sickness.

What do you think?  Do you feel pressure as a Mom?  Do you find it easy to become distracted from those issues which are truly spiritual issues?

6 Comments

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  1. Alice Jun 18, 2012

    Hi Sarah! This is soooooo true!! It never ends! The Lord's priorities must be our priorities! I must stop ending every sentence with exclamation points!!!!!

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  2. Raluca Jun 18, 2012

    This is such a great post, I am totally with you. I am tired of feeling guilty for not grinding my own flour! We need to be wise stewards of what God has given us, but careful not to become like the Phariaees and make up rules just to show we can keep them.

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  3. Kimberly S. Jun 19, 2012

    I do see that people often reference the Bible to point out what they perceive as someone's bad judgement's in various areas of their life. It's hard not to sometimes. My big thing right now is child-rearing. I (unfortunately) work outside the home and I often find myself having to encourage people not to judge someone who is a stay-at-home parent (as I've heard them being described as not a good provider) as well as those who do work outside the home (as they're not being the best parent to raising their children). This also goes along with the foods we feed our children, how we school our children, how we discipline our children, etc. If we spent as much time studying the Bible and talking with God as we do making our Biblical stances, we'd have better relationships with God. Geez, I'm guilty of that myself. When it comes to food, while I believe that God made food perfect for our bodies without altering it and processing it and I try to incorporate more "real" food into my diet, I also don't beat myself up for not following a Biblical diet 100%. If that was my worst sin in some people eyes, well than all I can say is wow, those people don't know me at all. Not to say I'm a bad person, but I think I commit worse sins than eating a drive-thru burger.

    I think it's best to try not to worry about whether we are pleasing others or living our lives by other people's beliefs. Instead we should just focus on what is best for our own lifestyle. And at the same time if eating Biblically, or homeschooling vs. Christian school vs. public school, or how we discipline our children, etc. is important to one person and they want to share that with others, then that is great for that person. But rather than trying to live up to someone else's ideals, I do my best in what I do and what priorities are important in my life. While I enjoy reading other's views, I try not to let it make me feel like less of a wife, mother, co-worker, daughter, or friend.

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  4. Tiffany S Jun 19, 2012

    Well said! Thank you.

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  5. Dana Jun 19, 2012

    For about the past year or so we've been eating more whole foods and getting rid of processed food. For me it's about what I think is healthiest for my family. I appreciate this post because it's a great reminder that eating healthier is not the most important thing! Sometimes I worry when we don't eat as well as I'd like because we are out of town or at someone's house. I ought to spend more time worrying when I don't get my Bible study or prayer time in. Thank you for this reminder.

    On the other hand, it does make me sad when I see adults with very unhealthy eating habits and they pass those on to their kids. I do think it's a moral issue when there is no regard for taking care of the body/health God has blessed you with.

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    1. Sarah Jun 19, 2012

      Thanks for your comment! Your first paragraph is exactly why I wrote this post. I was hit with the fact that in my own life, I devote more mental energy to certain decisions regarding my family rather than to studying and obeying what I know is true in the Scriptures!

      I wanted to clarify a couple things with the food issue, and this is not directed at you, it just seemed like a good place to put this response!

      I do think that there are Biblical issues when it comes to food, it's just that we have to be careful to not add to what the Bible actually says! The Bible does not give us a list of acceptable ingredients. There are the OT dietary laws, which we can learn from, but we are not under OT law. So I think we have to be careful with judging others for their food choices. For example, if we say that formula feeding is a sin, then what about the mom who adopts a baby and has no other choice? So we could edit our "rule" and say that it's a sin to feed a biological child formula, but okay to feed an adopted child formula. This kind of thinking goes outside the bounds of scripture. I think that we need to avoid making rules in regards to what other people eat. Rather, I think that some Biblical issues that factor into our own decisions about food are laziness (am I feeding my child junk food for snacks because I am too lazy to fix food that I know is healthy?) or selfishness (I am not willing to spend enough on quality food because I want to spend it on other things).

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  6. Amy Jun 20, 2012

    Thank you so much for this post. I couldn't agree more!

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