{"id":1218,"date":"2025-11-08T12:24:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T12:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianregency.com\/blog\/?p=1218"},"modified":"2025-11-08T12:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T12:24:37","slug":"food-and-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/08\/food-and-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Food and Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that America has a problem with disordered eating. In a land of abundance, food isn\u2019t just fuel; it\u2019s comfort, it\u2019s reward, it\u2019s entertainment.<\/p>

\"Fire<\/a><\/div>\n

I\u2019m no exception to this trend, so this devotional is written from a place of weakness, not strength. But as I\u2019ve been thinking about this month\u2019s theme of \u201cFood and Frolic\u201d, I find myself meditating on St. Paul\u2019s dictum that he who does not work shall not eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

This verse comforts me because it reminds me what food is for. Food is a thing with a purpose. Food lets us work, and work is such a great good that it existed even before the Fall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Working for some very sweet food indeed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So in some ways food is<\/em> a reward. It\u2019s the proper end to a day full of employment. It\u2019s the proper preparation for a day full of good work. It\u2019s both a reward and a necessity. We need food to do the good things God has given us to do, and we are blessed with food after we do those good things. (Because, after all, if you plant the garden, you get to enjoy its fruits. If you put in the hours, you get the paycheck.)<\/p>\n

I think this is why saying grace before our meals is one of the best correctives to the disordered American appetite. So many traditional table prayers contain within themselves a proper theology of food. My favorite is the very simple, \u201cBless, O Father, thy gifts to our use and us to thy service; for Christ’s sake.\u201d\u00a0 This to us, Lord, and us to You. Or, as I prayed regularly once upon a time, \u201cLord, please bless this food, and may I use the energy I get from it to serve You.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. Amen!<\/p>\n

Peace of Christ to you,<\/p>\n

Jessica Snell<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally posted 2012-08-10 10:00:00. <\/small><\/p>

\"Listen<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that America has a problem with disordered eating. In a land of abundance, food isn\u2019t just fuel; it\u2019s comfort, it\u2019s reward, it\u2019s entertainment. I\u2019m no exception to this trend, so this devotional is written from a place of weakness, not strength. But as I\u2019ve been thinking about this month\u2019s theme of \u201cFood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1232,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions\/1232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}