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“Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4).
This will be our last meditation on food, for now. But here we see that we are permitted to eat any creature, as long as we do so with thanksgiving. In the Old Testament certain animals were unclean, but now, under Christianity, we may eat any creature. In some parts of the world they eat things that we would not wish to eat. For example, I have seen short, fat, ugly worms for sale in the market in one country we visited, all wriggling around in a big jar. Many people bought them, took them home, cooked them, and ate them. We know from the Bible that John the Baptist ate locusts, which are like a big grasshopper.
Many years ago I knew a woman who enjoyed a good dinner at a friend’s home, but afterward, the hostess told her that the meat had been venison (deer meat). The woman was so upset that she went to the bathroom and vomited it all up. In North America we enjoy beef, but in some countries you would never be served beef; people do not eat it.
The Lord recognizes that different cultures are used to different diets, and this is quite all right, as long as it is received with thanksgiving. God has given it to us.
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