I remember years ago having dinner with a family who had done all they could to be healthy. They megadosed vitamins, bought their food from organic farms and stores, and had banned sugar and wheat flour from their diet. They had all sorts of health issues, some of which I’d never heard of, so I did not begrudge their efforts in the least.
That is, until after we had finished our healthy salad and healthy main course, and our hostess proudly unveiled healthy dessert: apple pie made with neither sugar nor wheat flower.
Now, up to that time, I would have thought it impossible to bake a pie without flour or sugar, but there it was sitting right in front of me. And while not impossible to bake, it was impossible to eat.
Thankfully we’ve learned lots more about the human body, and no longer trust trendy diets or all-or-nothing restrictions. But that experience illustrates the “gotcha” factor of life in a fallen world. In so many cases, a hoped-for advantage comes only with an unequal, distasteful trade-off. Often we wonder if its worth it.
God’s blessings are not like that. While they may require self-discipline, self-control, and saying “No” to our appetites, we will never, ever regret following Jesus and doing what is right.
Proverbs 10:22 (ESV) puts it like this:
“The blessing of the Lord makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow to it.”
Or the NKJV, “and he adds no sorrow with it.”
When God blesses, there is no “stinger” of regret. Unlike ill-gotten gain, for example, “the treasures of wickedness” which never profit us (Proverbs 10:2), God’s grace never has a “Gotcha!” If it is His gift, then it will be spiritually wholesome and will not drag us down.
We always are looking for the perfect food, high in flavor and low in calories and carbs. I think that must be what is served at His table. Isaiah 55:1, 2
“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine–
the best of meats and the finest of wines.”
Isaiah 25:6