Living a healthy life

January is filled with goals people make for the new year, many of which include proclamations of becoming healthier. Some resolve to lose weight, some resolve to eat healthier food, and some resolve to get up at 6 a.m. every morning to jog.

Creating and maintaining a healthy physical lifestyle are noble pursuits and support helping others and serving the Lord in certain ways. Many areas of service, from pruning the trees at the church to building a school in Africa during a mission trip, require stamina from eating healthy and strength from exercise. Other areas of service may not be quite so physically demanding, but still require attention to personal care. It’s hard to focus on what someone is trying to teach when it’s visibly (and pungently) apparent the teacher needs to do laundry (I knew an Awana club that had to turn a leader away because of this — he was scaring the kids).

But living an overall healthy life doesn’t stop at physical health — it’s more than maintaining personal hygiene, eating right, and exercising. In 1 Timothy 4:8, Paul tells Timothy, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” Even though physical health improves life on earth, this life is still temporary. As such, we should also maintain a spiritually healthy lifestyle, as it gives life both now and once we enter Heaven.

The concept of living a spiritually fit life is reiterated in 1 Peter 2:1-2. In the first verse, we’re commanded to set aside “all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking.” In other words, make an effort to “clean out the junk food” and replace it with the healthy food — God’s Word with all its promises, commands, and stories of God’s love — mentioned in verse two: “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

As we consider the goals we set for ourselves, let’s evaluate what we’re doing to take care of not just our bodies, but also our spirits. Perhaps our resolutions can include praying frequently (1 Thessalonians 5:17), memorizing scripture (Psalm 119:11), or making an effort to meet up with Godly friends more often (Hebrews 10:25). Here’s a link to a previous post for some simple and more specific ideas to get you started: 5 Easy ways to start the New Year with God.

May the rest of your year be healthy and happy as we take care of ourselves so we can be prepared to better serve God and others!