being careful in what we eat by exercising discernment in contacting people and having friends

We need to be careful in what we eat – not only physically, but also spiritually and psychologically. If we eat healthy food physically, we will have a proper growth and development, and our body will be supplied with good ingredients for its normal functioning.

It is the same spiritually – if we eat good food, if we feed on Christ in a regular way, we will grow in life and develop the spiritual virtues needed for serving the Lord and functioning in the Body of Christ.

This morning I was impressed with another aspect of our eating – we need to be discerning in contacting people and in establishing friendships. In Acts 10:11-15 there is the great sheet filled with unclean animals – which are a picture of unclean people – being presented to Peter in a trance, and in Leviticus 11 we see several kinds of animals, birds, fish, etc – all of which typify people.

If we contact unclean people, even though we may not join them in their unclean or defiling actions, we will be affected – because when we contact people, “we eat”. We need to be careful in what we eat by exercising discernment in contacting people and having friends!

We may be very good intended and may even want to “save them by first becoming their friends”; but the Bible warns us and tells us to stay away from certain kind of people so that we as children of God would not be defiled.

With certain kinds of people you just can’t and shouldn’t be friends – unless either the Lord burdens you for those ones and you are in fellowship and prayer with your vital group about them, or you will be affected in your Christian growth and Christian living.

Here are some of the animals / kinds of people and their spiritual meaning – the people WE need to be and we need to be around with, as seen in Leviticus 11 and expounded by brother Lee in the life-study of Leviticus:

• The beasts – including the cattle – the ones that are clean are those which divide the hoof and chew the cud (Lev. 11:2-3). These signify persons who have discernment in their activities(divide the hoof) and who receive the word of God with much reconsideration (they “chew the cud”, pondering on the Word, musing on the Word). We need to discern not only what is good or bad, evil or sinful, but also what is of our spirit and what is of our flesh, as well as the things that are of the new man or of the old man.
• The aquatic animals – the fish of the sea – the ones that are clean are those who have fins and scales (Lev. 11:9). These signify persons who can move and act freely in the world (have fins) and at the same time resist its influence (have scales). We need to be these kinds of people, those who even though they live in the salty water of this world, they are not affected or killed by it (we have “scales”) but rather are strong to move and follow the Lord wherever He wants us to be, where He moves today (have “fins”).
• The birds – the ones that are clean are those who have wings for flying and that eat seeds of life as the food supply (Lev. 11:13-19). These signify persons who can live and move in a life that is above the world and who can keep themselves from the world. They don’t stay in the present situation to be affected and damaged by it but rather exercise their spirit to soar above the situation and see things the way God sees them! We need to be these kind of people and stay away from those that “feed on carcasses”, those who don’t feed on life but rather on dead things, spreading death around them…
• The insects – the ones who are clean are those who have wings and have jointed legs above their feet for leaping on the ground (Lev. 11:21-22). These signify the persons who can live and move in a life that is above the world (have wings) and can keep themselves from the world (can leap on the ground). Yes, we are on the ground / on the earth, but we can live and move above the world and can keep ourselves from the world – there is a life in us, the divine life, that empowers us to do this!

This is so true and so real – evil companionships destruct good morals(1 Cor. 15:33). If we intend to live in a holy way for the Lord, we need to take care of our contact with people – especially our frequent contact with them and our being friends with them.

Don’t form friendships with people that the Bible classifies as “unclean” – not matter how pure in your heart you are, you will be affected in a negative way. Careless friendships will corrupt us, because our being friends with unclean people is our eating unclean things.

We really need to take care of our eating… [sharing inspired from the life-study of Leviticus as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crucial Elements of the Bible. Intro: we need to be careful of what we eat! Picture credit: Be Careful, via MyLot]

Lord, make us persons of life – those who feed on life and who give life to others! We want to be careful about what we eat and what we take in! Lord, sanctify our relationships with the people we come in contact with. Make us the proper kind of people that You need for Your purpose. We want to stay away from unclean persons. May we refuse to be friends with people that are unclean and can damage us in our growth in life. Lord, our eating! Make us those who discern what we eat!