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My Eating and Drinking
Basilea Schlink

Basilea Schlink (1904 - 2001). German religious leader, writer, and co-founder of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, born Klara Schlink in Darmstadt to a professor of mechanics. Raised Lutheran, she studied at Fröbelseminar in Kassel (1923) and Berlin’s Inner Mission girls’ school (1924), later earning a doctorate in psychology from Hamburg University in 1934 with a thesis on adolescent faith struggles. From 1933 to 1935, she led the Women’s Division of the German Student Christian Movement, resisting Nazi exclusion of Jewish Christians. In 1947, with Erika Madauss, she founded the Sisterhood in Darmstadt, taking the name Mother Basilea, growing it to 209 sisters across 11 global branches by 2001. Schlink authored over 60 books, including My All for Him, translated into 60 languages, and published tracts in 90. Her radio programs aired in 23 languages, emphasizing repentance and reconciliation, especially between Germans and Jews. Unmarried, she dedicated her life to prayer and ministry, shaping interdenominational Christian communities.
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In this sermon, Basilish Link discusses the importance of bringing glory to God in our eating and drinking. She emphasizes that whether we are rich or poor, influential or humble, we are all called to do everything for the glory of God. Link encourages listeners to examine their attitudes towards food and drink, asking if they are too eager or picky in their consumption. She reminds us that even in our mealtimes, we can bring praise to God by being thankful and content. Link also suggests that we can offer our eating and drinking as a living sacrifice to God, using it as a way to show our earnestness in prayer or devotion to Him.
Sermon Transcription
God lives and works today. Perhaps we believe in him and experience his reality in different areas of our lives. But what about our eating and drinking? What does God have to do with that? The following program by Basilia Schlink may be a great help to some of us. When the Apostle Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians, he was writing to the rich and the poor, the influential and the humble. His words in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, must have been meant for them all. So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. What about our own lives? Is what we eat or drink too important to us? Are we too eager at the table so that we can scarcely wait until the food is passed to us? Do we gobble everything down quickly? Or are we perhaps very picky and choosy about what we eat? Now we have to eat and drink, otherwise we would starve to death. However, the decisive issue is that we eat and drink before God. A person need not have an outward religious profession to bring glory to God. As the Apostle Paul says, everyone can bring God glory simply through his mealtimes. When we are full of thanksgiving for the goodness of the Heavenly Father, when we are content with the way the meal has been prepared, we are already bringing praise to the Father. In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul warns us, I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. What do these words, living sacrifice, mean in regard to our eating and drinking? If I am battling in prayer for a person's soul, I may decline to eat something that I especially like, as a little sign to the Lord that I am truly in earnest. And so I would say, Lord Jesus, please accept this small sacrifice out of love for you, for this person or prayer request. Let it be a living sacrifice, not a law or some kind of asceticism. When we take this attitude, everything that we eat and drink and everything that we do will bring glory to God. For then we are doing everything before Him, with Him and for Him. Yes, we have been redeemed to bring glory to God, also in our eating and drinking. Let me, Lord, go along with you, both joy and sorrow share with you, close at your side forever. Your instrument I long to be, Lord, cause sweet melody from me, whatever you will, my Savior. You've been listening to a program written by Basilia Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. If this program has been a help to you, we'd be happy to send you a free leaflet by the same author. Please write to God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099. That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099. Please write and ask for your free leaflet. God bless you.
My Eating and Drinking
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Basilea Schlink (1904 - 2001). German religious leader, writer, and co-founder of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, born Klara Schlink in Darmstadt to a professor of mechanics. Raised Lutheran, she studied at Fröbelseminar in Kassel (1923) and Berlin’s Inner Mission girls’ school (1924), later earning a doctorate in psychology from Hamburg University in 1934 with a thesis on adolescent faith struggles. From 1933 to 1935, she led the Women’s Division of the German Student Christian Movement, resisting Nazi exclusion of Jewish Christians. In 1947, with Erika Madauss, she founded the Sisterhood in Darmstadt, taking the name Mother Basilea, growing it to 209 sisters across 11 global branches by 2001. Schlink authored over 60 books, including My All for Him, translated into 60 languages, and published tracts in 90. Her radio programs aired in 23 languages, emphasizing repentance and reconciliation, especially between Germans and Jews. Unmarried, she dedicated her life to prayer and ministry, shaping interdenominational Christian communities.