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Good food?


Daniel 1:8

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

 

Thought for the day – Where God is

Many years ago I was invited to join some Muslim friends for Iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan. I was honoured to be asked, but found myself wondering about whether or not the food that I would be eating would be clean. I’m not Jewish, but it was the only way I could think about it. In the back of my head was the challenge the Corinthian Church faced in 1 Corinthians about food offered to idols. In the end I went for the meal and had a great time.

The reason I felt okay joining my Muslim friends for Iftar was because I was well aware of what I was doing. I was also reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:27 : ‘If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.’ And then in 10:33: ‘I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.’ Iftar for me was an opportunity for mission. An opportunity to break bread and talk about faith. Which was exactly what we did. Would I change anything? No. It was a good night for everyone and the food was absolutely amazing!


 This blog post is part of the Walking the Way Podcast series. All views expressed in this essay are those of the author. This essay is freely available under Creative Commons License with Attribution-ShareAlike, allowing users to share it in other mediums/formats and adapt/translate the content as long as an attribution link, indication of changes, and the same Creative Commons License applies to that material.

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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