| In
the Balance
Thinking about personal health |
Too much of
a good thing
I believe in balance. Too much work and not enough rest and we
become ill. Too much rest and not enough work and we become depressed. Too
much food and not enough activity and we become fat. Too much activity and
we forget to eat and become malnourished and ill. Too much time alone and
not enough time with others and we become lonely and self-orientated. Too
much time with others and not enough time alone and we lose our sense of
self and calling. And so it goes on. |
When our physical bodies suffer illness or injury we cannot pretend that God does not have an interest or that our mind and spirit remain unaffected. |
A spiritual matter The balance will be different for different people. God made us all in glorious variety and I don’t want to simplify things too far, but we must all remember that our physical and mental well-being are a God-given attribute of human-kind. When our physical bodies suffer illness or injury we cannot pretend that God does not have an interest or that our mind and spirit remain unaffected. The health of our bodies is a spiritual matter but when did you last hear a sermon on keeping your body well? My guess is your answer goes something along the lines of, “never.” Same here, so let’s think a bit about it now. God chose to create physical bodies as part of creation and he gave humanity responsibility for looking after that creation. We are, therefore, responsible for looking after our bodies. I believe this means the following three things. |
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1. We need to stop ignoring God’s interest in this area of our lives and think of our physical and mental well-being as a spiritual issue. 2. We need to pay attention to our bodies and minds, checking them for signs of illness and feed both properly. 3. We need to seek remedies to any wrongs we observe whether it be getting more sleep, accessing professional medical help, reorganising our schedules or diet or whatever. |
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Let us put some thought and prayer into this issue today. |
Getting on
with it
I want to encourage you to think about the welfare of your body today. Are there any pressing issues you have been ignoring and hoping would
go away by themselves? Make this a priority and act. Are you running on physical “empty” because there are so many other
things to think about? My belief is that almost everything we think of as
pressing can actually wait, you will do better at almost everything if you
look after yourself well anyway. I will be firm with you, if you have got
time to read this article you have got time to go to bed early too. Can’t sleep? Don’t worry about it. Get out of bed, go into another
room and put on some Christian music and sit quietly listening. Invite God
to come and be with you—then just sit in His presence. I am no expert
but I do know that there are many reasons why sleep does not come easily
for some but we can learn to rest in God’s presence. I don’t always look after myself as well as
I ought so I am not about to throw condemning stones at you, but God wants
us to look after his creation responsibly. Let us put some thought and
prayer into this issue today. |
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