
Most people begin the year thinking about how they can be healthier. Although less than 40% of Americans make a New Year's resolution, nearly 78% of the resolutions have to do with physical health. The reality for most of us is we want to be more healthy. Who wouldn't want to be more healthy, fit, live longer, and enjoy life to the fullest all the days of their life?
Pastors are not much different, although my experience tells me they think less about physical health than the general public. It may be they see physical health as so far down on the priority list that they don't have time for it, or it may be because all of their time and energy goes into the ministry and, hopefully, family.
It isn't hard to see that American society, along with the rest of the world, is sicker than ever. When I first studied health, I found a 2011 Northwestern University study Click here for study that said as a regular church attender, you are 50% more likely to be obese. That blew my mind. The plethora of studies lean towards positive effects for spiritual or religious people, like in this meta-review on Pubmed. Click here for study. Religious and spiritual people are overall healthier, less depressed, have less heart disease and cancer, have less dementia and have greater longevity. Maybe the Buddhists and Hindus throw the numbers off because they tend to take care of the body more, but prayer and relationship with Jesus work in our favor of physical health! We move more, we eat healthier, but we eat more. Yes, even Harold G Koenig's deep dive into the psychological and physical implications of spirituality in 2012 states that religious people are over-fat. I wish he would have broken it down by religious affiliation, but I can attest that Christians need a revelation of how much God loves their body and how His desire is for us to take care of it.
I have been in a lot of churches in my life. I have gone to dozens of conferences, if not a hundred. I have listened to over a thousand podcasts and noticed something that happens almost across the board. Processed and comfort food is glorified and held up as something that satisfies us emotionally. I am not trying to be negative. I am just pointing out what I have seen and heard. I have heard from the pulpit that coffee, donuts/Danishes being extolled. Nothing much is mentioned about vegetables except they are not preferred or even seen as a punishment of sorts. The pulpit isn't the only place this happens, but my pastor friends, you are leading people! You may say that you are just joking, and I understand that because I am a jokester. However, our jokes can be seen as an endorsement. Imagine if we joke about having a beer or needing a glass of wine to function. Before you dismiss it, think about it and converse with Jesus. Beyond what we say, what do we offer people at church? I am not saying coffee is evil, but sugary, non-nutritious foods that addict people may be close to it.
It is not difficult to understand the will of God for our bodies. He wants us to be healthy, fit, and vital!
3 John 2 (ESV)
2Â Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
He is fully invested in your body! He made it on the 6th Day of creation and said it was super good!
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)
19Â Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20Â for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
He loves you! That includes your body! The difficulty isn't about God wanting us to be healthy; He calls Himself the Lord Our Healer, and we will live in perfect health in heaven! There are two difficult things beyond that revelation. First, we are called to surrender our entire life to Him, including our body. That means what we eat, how we move, how we sleep, how we rest, and how we are in relationships with others (these are my four pillars of health and longevity) must be surrendered to God. How much to eat, when to eat, when to drink, and what to drink are questions we have the privilege of asking our Father, who knows best! To do this, we will need to attain some freedom from the emotional part of eating and the brainwashing of the media and culture. He wants you free!
The second, and perhaps the most challenging thing for the average person, is understanding what we should consume, how much to exercise and move, and how much to rest, sleep, and vacation to rejuvenate physically (and mentally and emotionally). I will be elementary here and expound in future blogs.
Eat what God gave us to eat. It is written in Genesis 1:29. Look it up. For over 1600 years, plants and trees were their food. God called it good. Now look up Genesis 9:3. Later, there were instructions about not eating the scavengers of the earth for obvious health reasons.
Move like God created us to move. A gym is a city farm. We don't work the fields or catch our game or anything like that, so we have to move. Studies agree that 150 minutes a week of moderate activity is the baseline. Everyone walked everywhere. They moved for everything they wanted to do. Move. A lot.
Rejuvenate. God gave us a day as a gift and exampled taking it off Himself. Receive the gift. Rest. Regenerate. Sleep at night. Darkness is your cue to sleep, and midnight represents the middle of the night. I know that if you live above 50 degrees latitude, this is difficult, but the fact remains that dark signals something as much as daylight signals your body to get up.
My hope and prayer for you is that you will be in good health, prosper, succeed, and have things turn out well physically. I pray that you have more energy and that your immune system remains robust. I pray that you will live in health and defy chronic disease. I pray that you will enjoy what God designed your body to consume and its abilities as long as you live. Be well, my friends. Partner with God. Get your thinking aligned with His and live as He tells you to live, which is the maximum, abundant, and spectacular life that Jesus came to give you. John 10:10.
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