Word of the week - Health

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.  This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8

What does is mean to be healthy?  I think most of us immediately think of our physical health when we contemplate the concept of being healthy.  God knows how important it is for us to have physical health.  In fact I have heard it said “if you don’t have your health you don’t have much”.  As important as our physical health is to each of us, I would submit that there are many dimensions to being healthy and we must pursue health holistically if we are to truly be healthy and live to our full God given potential.  In this weeks “Word of the Week” I would like to explore 4 different aspects of health to include: Spiritual, Relational, Mental/Emotional, and Physical.  How do we experience health in all of these areas and how do we prioritize?Spiritual Health:  I truly believe that the most important thing for each of us is to have spiritual health.  So what does that look like and what does it mean to be spiritually healthy.  Spiritual wellness provides us with systems of faith, beliefs, values, ethics, principles and morals, which helps us understand and make sense of the world and the big question we all have “why on earth am I here”.  People who are spiritually healthy typically have clarity of vision for why they exist and they live on mission with purpose.  This is truly what God offers us through Christ, a path to know God in a personal way and discover our God given purpose so we can be part of God’s family/team to join in the greatest mission of all, “the Great Co-mission”.  Whereby we are walking and working with God to achieve His masterplan for all mankind.  He truly has a God plan and purpose for each of us as He states in Ephesians “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He prepared in advance for each of us” Ephesians 2:10.  Based on my personal experience, we have not truly lived until we have experienced life in connection with God and His spirit, and understand our God given purpose for being on this earth.  This is the abundant life that God talks about throughout the bible.  This is life that is truly life and this is what I believe to be Spiritual health.  A place where you are fully trusting God and His plan for your life and pursuing Him daily in an abiding relationship.  There is such peace and security in this place.  “The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23Relational Health:  Second to our relationship with God is our relationship with others, especially those close to us in our families and circle of influence.  The greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God and love others as yourself”.   All too often we experience relational challenges, especially with those closest to us and we end up taking offense and having damaged and unhealthy relationships that may even become toxic.  Due to the brokenness and dysfunction we experience from our past, we end up developing new unhealthy relationships and the river of mud keeps flowing downstream, where unhealthy relationship reproduce more unhealthy relationships.  This is why the Lord made it very clear that we should make it the highest priority in life to do whatever we can to forgive those who offend us and reconcile all of our relationships.  To never harbor unforgiveness because it will turn to bitterness and poison the person who cannot forgive.  “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ forgave you” Ephesians 4:32  We should make every effort to sow love and peace to all in an effort to show the love and grace of the Lord.  “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” James 3:18  The bottom line is that life is so much better when we are right with God and others and have healthy relationships.  Sometimes the best way to have a healthy relationship is to impose healthy boundaries with certain people to remain in a good place.  Personal relationships can be very challenging but they are truly the greatest source of joy and fulfillment in life so we must do whatever we can within our ability to build and maintain healthy relationships.  This is most pleasing to the Lord our God.  If we want to have healthy relationships we must be in a healthy relationship with the Lord and build and maintain healthy relationships with godly people who can honestly speak into our lives and serve as role models for us to learn from.Mental / Emotional Health:  How we think determines what we do and how we behave, which in turn has a huge impact on our mental and emotional well-being.  Every feeling we feel begins with a thought.  Our lives and how we see God and people is really impacted by our mindset.  So if we have stinking thinking that is not grounded in the truth, we are going to struggle in life across most all areas.  We are seeing mental illness at alarming rates across our country in almost every age category.  The main way to have health in our minds and emotions is to feed our minds healthy godly food by pursuing truth through God’s word and renewing our minds and hearts each day by surrounding ourselves with godly people and not conforming to the patterns of our world/culture.  “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2  We have the opportunity to be freed from the bondage of stinking thinking by pursuing truth and taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5  So we have the choice each day to feed our minds and souls godly content from God’s word and other sources that builds us up in Christ and gives our minds and souls a sense of peace and security or fill our minds with worldly information that leaves us feeling fearful and insecure.  “For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of love, power and sound mind” 2 Timothy 1:7Physical Health:  Our physical health and condition is definitely important and we should work to live healthy by eating well and exercising our bodies to remain healthy and fit.  That being said, we must understand that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit to be submitted to the Lord.  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20  That being said, if we have great physical health but don’t know God then we lose what matters most, our soul.  Since we are eternal beings having a temporary physical experience on this earth it is important for us to take care of ourselves to be healthy and extend life but it is more important for us to ensure that our souls are healthy and we have an eternal perspective “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value to all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8I pray that the Lord brings health to us and our families in all areas, so we can experience the goodness of the Lord in His abundant life, the life that is truly life and live to our full God given potential.Have a blessed Memorial Day.  I am grateful for all who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can have freedom.-Duane