Healthy Choice

There has been a lot of attention focused on the importance of healthy eating and physical exercise which is being promoted through the media and various promotions in our schools and workplaces.  Efforts are being made to teach us to read labels and be aware of what is in our food to protect our bodies from food tainted with questionable manufactured chemicals that hold the potential to be destructive.  We are being encouraged to be more active…to wear mechanical devices to record our steps to ensure that we are getting enough exercise and to drink pure water and stay away from drinks that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and phosphoric acid.  People are awakening to the joy of experiencing more vitality and stamina as they embrace the suggestions being offered by health advisors.

As a Christian, I believe that I not only have a physical body, but also a spiritual body.  The spirit man needs as much attention as the physical.  I need to be thinking deeper about the things of the world that hold the potential to taint my conscious to believe that wrong is okay.  The Spirit of God is more than willing to prick my conscious, if I will spend quiet time and reflection in seeking the truth about what the world is attempting to package to me as being okay.

There are a lot of substitute reading materials that are more appealing than picking up the pure, organic Word of God, but none will provide the sustenance and strength as the Bread of Life.  The Word of God is powerful and effective to judge the attitudes of our heart and it is living and active to nourish and bring fresh revelation of our living God.  Our spirit man needs the unprocessed sustenance from a healthy and reliable source on a regular basis.  Digging deep into the Word of God will cultivate healthy fruit in our lives full of nutrients to nourish and foster others as well.

Just as our bodies need the pure, cleansing and revitalizing effect of water, we also need the living water of the Holy Spirit to flow into our system and purge us of the impurities that cling to our spiritual cells and weaken our immune system.   Scripture uses the analogy of thirst to help us understand the longing that should be present in us when we are spiritually healthy.  Hunger and thirst is a sign that we are spiritually alive.  When we stop experiencing these longings, something is unhealthy. 

I have read from several sources that when you physically drink a lot of water, your thirst increases and when you don’t drink, the craving subsides.  Just as our physical man’s cravings are determined by what they are fed, when we come to God and receive nourishment from His Word and are refreshed by the Holy Spirit, our souls will crave the pure, sincere and unadulterated nutrition that time in His presence provides.

God, as we learn to make healthy changes to strengthen our physical body,  help us also desire a strong, healthy soul that delights and finds joy in the healthy practices of feasting upon your living word and drinking from the springs of life that satisfy our longings.  May You increase our cravings…give us an addiction to living in your Word and presence and strengthen our faith.

 

1 Timothy 4:8--For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.