Who likes eating pie? By Mick Smith

Cl​Do you enjoy your food? If you do you won't have any difficulty in being able to identify your favourite dish. For me, steak, onions or even onion rings and chips would have to be one of the front runners in the popularity stakes (ha ha do you see what I've done there?). It could also be Yorkshire puddings with thick onion gravy, lamb and roast potatoes a close second with chicken and a jacket potato coming in third place. What about a salad? Sorry, for me it was a non starter.

I do like some healthy foods (I thought I ought to mention that in case anyone tried to tell me what I should eat) For example I've really changed the way I now eat my bacon butties. I no longer have thick butter on my extra large bread cake. I think you will agree that's much healthier. However, there is one food I am not too keen on. It's the sort of pie you get with a really thick pastry crust. It seems to me that if the crust was much thinner you could get more meat in it.

I have been told that the general rule to healthy eating is that if it tastes nice it's not good for you but the food that does not taste so nice is, very often, good for you. If we relate that concept to eating of pies there is one type of pie that is good and healthy for all of us. It's humble pie.

I looked up the origin of the old saying about 'eating humble pie'. What I discovered was that, in medieval times, the upper class would feed their servants with a pie that contained the edible offal of the deer from their estates. The offal was known as the 'umbles' of the deer and the pie became known as 'umble' pie. It doesn't sound too appealing does it?

That set me thinking. Humility is described, in the dictionary, as a modest or low view of ones own importance. That goes against the grain as, mostly,  we naturally tend to hold ourselves in a reasonably high regard. That is why even the sound of humble pie doesn't grab us.

However, did you know that the apostle Paul had occasion to eat humble pie? When he received Jesus as his Saviour he had to do this. He had previously done all he could to prevent Christianity spreading as
he had believers taken away and imprisoned. He was so humbled by his Damascus road experience that we read of in Acts chapter nine. He had, before his conversion experience, not only held himself in high regard but was seen the same way by many others.The humble pie he ate was to see that "all things that were gain to me I have counted as loss for Christ and rubbish (meaningless)."

Far from regarding himself as 'having arrived' as a blameless Hebrew he now saw himself as being far from perfect but willing to press on for the upward call of Christ (Philippians chapter 3) He had previously been seen as someone who had progressed far beyond most of his contemporaries of his previous life but now what that meant was that it was a new beginning and he was more than willing to make a new start. He was willing to put behind him all the knowledge that he had accumulated at the feet of Gamaliel (one of the foremost teachers of the law at the time) that he might learn to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection and even the fellowship of His sufferings that he might at last be acceptable to God.

That was quite a chunk of this 'hard to digest' humble pie but he did it. You see that's the beauty of our calling to serve Christ. Whatever our past; it is forgiven. For the future we have a hope that is steadfast and certain. But there will be times, in the here and now, when we may well have to eat humble pie by saying or showing, both to our Saviour and to someone near to us, that we are sorry.

It's not the best tasting pie in the world and there are times when it will take some digesting but, if it's true that 'if it tastes nice it's not good for you but if it doesn't taste nice then it is good for you' then let's eat some good food. If the apostle Paul could then let's be willing to follow his example.

Philippians 3:4-8 if anyone thinks he has confidence in the fleshI have more; circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew born of Hebrews . As to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church and as to righteousness under the law blameless. But whatever gain I had I counted as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse in order that I may gain Christ.

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