“What have you got if you don’t have your health?”
I’ve heard many people ask this over the years. The frequency seems to be increasing, as well, as the company I keep increases in age. Our fleshly bodies are falling apart the older we get, each new illness a harbinger of worse ailments to come! I’m fifty-two years old at the time of this writing so I have asked my elders what it’s like once you surpass, say, seventy years old. Their response is typically married to a chuckle, and it goes something like this, “Well, you think you have it bad now, just you wait! Not only do parts of your body begin breaking on you, but they also no longer completely heal! And, if perchance, you’re able to put one ache behind you, another pops up eagerly in its place the next day!”
We try to laugh about such things because we are powerless to control the decaying nature of our bodies (Why lose sleep over it?). Nonetheless, it gets me thinking…
Most concur they’d rather lose most luxuries and/or privileges before they lose their health. For example, what good is being wealthy if you are too sick to enjoy it? What good is being “blessed” with a luxurious house if you’re confined to a single sick-bedroom? What good is a nice car if all you do is drive it to and from the doctor’s office? You get the gist (and I’m not suggesting that prosperity is the only counterbalance to my point here; it’s just one that most people readily relate to).
The analog to physical health is spiritual health, which is much, much more important to any hope of peace and contentment we might enjoy in this lifetime. As a side note, the Bible teaches us that physical health is sometimes a function of our spiritual health.
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
-Proverbs 4:20-23
I’ll leave this Biblical tie between one’s physical and spiritual health for another day; but suffice to say, it absolutely exists, and you might be among those whom the Spirit had in mind when I inserted this truth here.
So, I ask, what good are all the so-called “blessings from God” if you are too spiritually unhealthy to enjoy them? Might it be that said “blessings” are cruel when not accompanied by godly health, given that you don’t possess the faculties to enjoy them? Is it possible, then, that they are not gifts from God, but rather worldly “blessings”? After all, why would God give you a blessing that you’re incapable of enjoying?
Is it possible to be like one of those emaciated runway models who grace the cover of magazines and yet their insides are ruined from chain-smoking, anorexia, and drug addiction? True health isn’t always what others assess from external appearances, is it??? Neither are many of the so-called “blessings” people cling to (in the absence of the spiritual health and capacity to enjoy them).
Good health is worth pursuing; however, it is a gift from our Creator – He gives it to those whom He specifically wishes to bless, in His good timing. Humility is the key.
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones. The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
-Proverbs 15:30-33
Disclaimer: Does poor physical health always imply poor spiritual health? No; all you have to do is read the first couple of chapters of the Book of Job. The point of this blog is to ask the basic question, “How enjoyable is living (physically or spiritually) in the absence of health?”
As physical exercise relates to good health, so goes spiritual exercise. According to the Bible, spiritual health is the absolute priority, for it affects body, soul, and spirit.
Reading your Bible is like going for a run. Going to church to listen to your pastor preach is like having a fitness instructor right there encouraging you to press on. How awesome is that? Even reading this blog is a form of guided exercise – who doesn’t benefit from this? It’s funny, I often feel just like a fitness instructor, raising my voice, repeating words of encouragement, pushing others to press on even though they are in pain. The suffering is worth it in the end!
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
-Romans 5:3-5
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
-James 1:2-4
Learn to exercise your faith for doing so produces wonderful results. Train hard when the Spirit asks you to. Push through, reap the benefits of good health, and live well!
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins