03/28/2018 AN APPOINTED TIME
John 7:30 At this they tried to seize HIM, but no one laid a hand on HIM, because HIS time had not yet come.
Matthew 26:18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near, I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
(See also Luke 22:10-11; Mark 14:13-14)
[New International Translation]
Summary
John 7:30 and Matthew 26:18 illustrate the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross was part of the Divine plan of GOD. It was not something that was accidental, unplanned or that just happened. Just as Jesus’ birth was foretold and predicted, so was HIS death. It was preordained. As the passage from John 7:30 shows, even those who wanted to do HIM harm, could not, unless GOD willed it to be so. No one could touch HIM, until HIS appointed time.
In Matthew 26:18, Jesus states that HIS “appointed time is near.” In other words, HE knew what would happen. HE knew what HE would endure. HE chose to do the FATHER’s WILL. HIS life was not taken; but rather, HE gave up HIS life freely, in obedience to the FATHER and out of love (See John 3:16). HE kept an appointment on a cross---just for you and for me.
EATING AT THE RIGHT TIME
Sometimes we find ourselves engaging in unplanned or poorly thought through patterns of behavior. We often have no idea how many “meals” we eat or how many hours/minutes during the day we spend eating. For example, some people are “conditioned” to start eating or drinking as soon as they turn on the TV or as soon as the movie starts in the theatre.
Sometimes we eat “out of habit” regardless of whether we are hungry. We grab a second helping because the food “looks good” or because we are just in the habit of getting two slices and not one. Sometimes we overeat during family holiday and gatherings (e.g. Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter). Our need for food is no greater on these days than on any other day, but just because there is more food or because we have more time, we often just eat more. Sometimes because everyone else around us is “going back for seconds,” we go for seconds too.
Eating at Night
Many researchers believe (and many of us know this intuitively) that it is not healthy to eat large meals at night. Generally, weight gain results from eating more calories than you burn. If you consume calories and then exercise, you are more likely to burn up more of the calories than you consume. Eating foods high in calories (such as chips, cookies, cakes, etc.) and then sitting in front of a TV, computer, or lying in bed at night, means that the body is at it its lowest calorie burning times:
Metabolically speaking, the calories we eat late at night are getting digested and absorbed into the blood stream several hours later when we are sleeping — burning our lowest amount of calories.
From, “Is Night Time Eating MakingYou To Gain Weight,” by Elaine Magee, RD, November 17, 2010, https://webmd.com/healthy-recipe-doctor/2010/11/is-night-time-eating-making-you-gain-weight.htm.
According to Magee, in the very same article: