Good Creation
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
1 Timothy 4:4 (NIV)
Paul declares: everything God created is good, nothing to be rejected if received thankfully. Creation's purpose is goodness enjoyed gratefully. Ascetics banned marriages and foods; Paul returns menus. Good creation, received with thanks, sanctifies receivers. Gratitude is the missing seasoning.
Nothing to be rejected: generous breadth. Food, marriage, rest, beauty — gifts, never traps. Gifts' purpose is holy enjoyment, never neurotic guilt. Legalism calls sinful what God called good. Rejecting gifts saddens Givers. Receive joyfully what Fathers serve lovingly.
If received with thanksgiving: the condition is gratitude, never gluttony. Thanksgiving sanctifies plates and pleasures. Pre-meal prayer is no ritual but recognition. Ritual's purpose remembers Sources. Grateful hearts digest blessings better avoiding excess. Gratitude moderates unsoured.
For sanctified by word and prayer: the next verse completes. Words guide use, prayer consecrates enjoyment. Double purpose guards two errors: libertinism and asceticism. Scripture and gratitude frame all lawful pleasure. Live thus and no gift will dominate you.
And receive thankfully: thankful creations sanctify days. Receive thankfully today. Thankful creations sanctify. Enjoy gifts. Give thanks. Eat joyfully. Eat joyfully and rest deeply. Savor goodness. Praise Makers. Abound. Abound in gratitude daily. Sing grace. Bless tables.