Christians Have Extra Reasons to Be Mindful of Diet

During the course of my interview with Chuck Lawrence, something important about Christians’ eating habits came to mind.

If you haven’t read the article, Lawrence is the pastor of Christ Temple church in Huntington, W.Va. Huntington–a place I’ve driven through many times traversing Interstate 64–received the dubious distinction of being the most overweight city in the United States in a recent Centers for Disease Control study.

Christ Temple–the largest congregation in the city–has taken it seriously, having collectively lost a ton of weight in six weeks between roughly 200 members.

That got me to thinking of the pot lucks, fellowship dinners and men’s breakfasts I’ve been to. They’re usually full of tasty foods with a lot of calories, and that’s not meant to be an indictment. When you’re feeding large groups of people with children and a limited amount of money, spending extra on fresh broccoli isn’t a priority.

Should Christians make an effort to include healthy choices on the menu for these type of events? Sure.

But the Christ Temple example illustrates an even bigger–no pun intended–point. Because many of us enjoy these times of fellowship as a way to connect with one another in our faith, we may need to be more health-conscious than the overall population.

Don’t necessarily skip the lasagna before your mid-week Bible study, but maybe take a smaller portion and balance it out with an extra lap around the block or a few more minutes on one of my personal favorites, the Wii Fit.