阅读经文 

每种文化中都有自己对饮食的偏好。我们大多数人倾向于把某些食物看得更重，这取决于我们对什么事物感到熟悉，认为什么事物适合我们，以及我们喜欢什么和不喜欢什么。

然而，在《旧约》中，以色列人按照律法中的饮食规定来生活并不是出于偏好。律法指示说某些鸟类和动物是不洁净的。因此，百姓若要过一种圣洁的生活，就需要避开不吃这些动物。食物的戒律似乎也关乎尊重生死的原则，这表明神为祂的子民预备了一条让他们亨通的道路。

当耶稣基督带来《新约》时，就不再需要旧的食物戒律了。例如，在《使徒行传》第十章，我们读到在异象中，神告诉彼得“各样四足的走兽和昆虫，并天上的飞鸟”，（参徒 10:12）现在都是洁净的了！就这样，神敦促祂的百姓把耶稣的好消息传给万民。其他民族的人经常吃这些被认为不洁的动物，神不希望祂的子民认为其他民族也是不洁净的，或者不配藉着耶稣得救。

今天，我们仍然被呼召分别为圣，这意味著作为神的子民，我们要为主而活。而不是遵守饮食的戒律，我们被邀请为我们信实的救主耶稣基督而活，尽心、尽性、尽意、尽力来爱神，并要爱邻舍如同自己。

Every culture has its list of food preferences. Most of us tend to elevate certain foods over others, depending on what's familiar to us, what agrees with us, and what we like and don't like.

In Old Testament Israel, however, living according to food laws was not a matter of preference. The law stated that certain birds and other animals were unclean. So, as a way to live holy lives, the people were required to avoid those animals and not eat them. The food laws seemed to honor principles about life and death, suggesting that God was putting in place a way for his people to flourish.

When Jesus Christ brought about the new covenant, the old food laws were no longer required. In Acts 10, for example, we read of Peter having a vision in which God tells him that "all kinds of four-footed animals, including reptiles and birds," were now considered clean! In this way God urged his people to spread the good news of Jesus to all other nations. People of other nations regularly ate those kinds of animals, and God did not want his people thinking that other peoples were unclean or unworthy of being saved through Jesus.

Today we are still called to be holy (set apart), living with intention as God's people. Rather than following rules about food, we are invited to live for our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.