Health and the Holidays

Welcome to another post on the Still in the Storm Substack.

The holidays are almost upon us.

Meanwhile, we are looking forward to making America healthy again.

Those two things likely are opposed to each other.

The holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s) bring a lot of eating, and much of it is not very healthy.

So, I thought it might be a good time to pick back up on my series about how Christians should view health and treat illnesses.

If you haven’t read the first article, click here.

Have I mentioned that we are Holy Ones?

Yes, I know that I mentioned it last week and I am going to keep saying it because I think it bears repeating.

We who are in Christ are holy ones.

That feels good, doesn’t it?

In the first article in this series, I talked about how we are not our own but we have been bought at a price.

Jesus paid the price for our sins and in so doing He redeemed us, taking ownership of us.

Not only that but our bodies are God’s temple, whose Holy Spirit dwells in us.

This is all so amazing but we must be good stewards of these wonderful gifts.

After all, we are simply loaning these things.

The late Rush Limbaugh used to say that he had “talent on loan from God.”

This is the appropriate way for a Christian to view all God has given us.

Abraham was a man with tremendous wealth but he owned nothing.

This is what God is after.

So what does this mean for our health?

Treat your body like the temple it is

Not only are our bodies God’s property on load from Him to us but, they are connected to the body of Christ.

By understanding that our bodies are not ours and they hold the very Spirit of God within them, we must hold them in very high regard.

We are to be stewards of all that God gives us, our bodies included.

That should have a direct impact on how we treat our bodies, what we put in them, and what we expose them to.

Ya know, like that pumpkin pie, you’re dreaming about devouring next week.

We should pause and think about whether we are truly giving our bodies everything they need to thrive so that the Lord can make use of them.

Generally speaking, during the holidays, we tend to throw caution completely to the wind regarding eating and health.

Then we start the new year trying to make up for it and often run into trouble.

The bottom line is that we all want to worship God and one of the key elements is giving our bodies to Him for His use.

Here are a few ways to steward or honor our bodies for the Lord.

1. Diet and nutrition - you are what you eat and what you eat can have a profound impact on your overall health.

2. Exercise - diet may be more important but, this can have profound impacts on our mental wellbeing.

3. Sleep - getting proper amounts of sleep helps the body heal and recharge.

4. Reduce stress - this can be a huge health problem for the entire body.

5. Forgiveness - it has been shown that bitterness, resentment, and sin overall will affect the physical body.

Oh but there’s more

It’s not just our physical body that’s the issue here.

It turns out that our physical body has a significant effect on our minds and emotions.

Therefore, when we don’t care for our physical bodies it’s not just impacting our bodies and their physical well-being. It goes much deeper.

This includes the spirit as well as the soul, which is made up of the mind, will, and emotions.

Remember that the physical, visible world is not reality but, the invisible.

That means the physical points to the spiritual world.

And that holds for our bodies too.

Our bodies are vehicles for Christ to express Himself on earth.

They aid Him in advancing His Kingdom.

When we think about the responsibility that we all have for caring for our bodies, we should remember that it goes far beyond ourselves as individuals and the physical creation, too.

A final thought

I want to leave you with one more thing.

The next article in this series will consider how a Christian should handle any illness or disease situation.

This directly relates to self-advocacy, medical freedom, and informed choice.

As Christians, we have been given the power of free will.

We get to make our own choices, or at least we should.

Covid changed that for many people, but we may be on the precipice of regaining that.

Still, since we are the Lord’s we should take extra responsibility for our bodies.

And as you will see I think we need to involve the Lord in the process too.

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving next week.

Due to the holiday, I will likely not publish a new article next week but I will be back the following week on 12/5.

See you then. God bless you. Stay safe.

Let me know what you think in the discussion below.

Talk soon,

Mike

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