Anchor Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
God is our Healer and He wants us to enjoy good health! He has given us instructions, commandments and guidelines on how to live well. It is in our interest that we know God’s provision and apply them.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Even the NHS has a website for Healthy life choices.
Weight control is not all that there is about healthy living although it is an integral part of it.
Rest is part of life cycle, don’t neglect it.
Like our spiritual life, our health benefits or suffers from our daily choices. in the light of various alternatives to good and nutritious food, we need to discipline ourselves to make the right choices for the sake of our health. We can’t continue in ‘sin’ (ignorance, indulgence and indifference) and expect grace to continue.
Life Choices:
Read Psalm 1 – we walk, sit & stand. In essence, God says there are two ways of life open to us: one means blessedness, happiness, and fruitfulness, but the other means being cursed, unhappy, and judgment.
The choice is ours. Blessedness is a choice, but to be blessed, one must by faith obey the conditions; we must pursue the way of blessedness as described in this Psalm.
Excerpt from Ted Talk:
Dean Ornish (an American physician, and president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito) shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase.
The emphasis is that we have choices other than medication to manage diseases. www.ornish.com
Paul admonishes us to “So Run”.….. ……
We are all in a race not against one another but in the purpose of God. We run the race in our physical bodies!
Thank God for this vessel called body! Stand in front of the mirror & consider the complexity of your body – cells, tissue, organ, systems, just thank God Almighty!
1 Timothy 4:4
Along with stating that “every creature of God is good,” Paul also wrote, “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph 5:28-30). So Paul assumed every Christian “nourishes and cherishes” their own bodies.
Dr Cooper (Jewish medical practitioner)
[Christians] believe, quite rightly, that the spiritual dimensions of their lives are of supreme importance. But then they proceed to the assumption that their physical bodies are unimportant and may be neglected with impunity. They fail to understand that their spiritual lives—including the values and relationships that they hold so dear—are closely connected with the conditions of their bodies. If the body begins to break down, the person may lack the endurance and energy require to serve others, stay in a good mood, or even spend extended periods in prayer.
Motives for Healthy Life Choices:
A) We are created in God’s image. The Bible is quite clear here – we are made in the image of the Creator. That image was marred in the fall of Adam and Eve, but not destroyed. That fact alone should give us reason to take care of ourselves.
B) This body is the only one we have. This point might sound silly, but sometimes we live as if we have bodies to spare. When this one is worn out, we don’t have a replacement until the day of resurrection.
C) Poor discipline is a bad witness. It’s hard to tell people to be disciplined in their Bible study, prayer life, giving, etc., when they can look at us and see we are undisciplined in exercise and eating. A lack of effort in one area of life is often indicative of problems in other areas.
D) Bad health is costly. Eventually, the costs of poor health add up. Medical bills pile up. Insurance costs increase. Moreover, bad health makes us less productive at work. Others are forced then to carry some of our load.
The Choices:
Food & Snacks – shopping list – (Create a Remain & Leave List):
What does this do to me?
Fruit & vegetable – mystery of antioxidants versus ‘free radicals’.
Exercise – What works for you with regards to time, availability & need.
Rest – life cycle. An inbuilt design for the body to look after itself!
Example:
1 Samuel 30:11-12 – strength for a wearied soldier!
Aim this year to understand & tame “Free Radicals’ of Ageing with Antioxidant Therapy”
‘Unpaired molecules’ that hijack the body building process!
What Are Free Radicals?
The body generates hundreds of substances called “free radicals” when converting food to energy. Other free radicals are extracted from food or breathed in from the air, and some are generated by the sunlight’s action on the skin and eyes.
Once formed, these toxic compounds can start a chain reaction like dominoes. Cells may function poorly or die. Resulting oxidative stress is associated with more than 200 diseases.
The scavenger free radical molecules are missing an electron in their outer shells and will do anything to fill them, including stealing electrons from your body’s cellular structures. Such cellular thievery may damage DNA, proteins (enzymes), and cell membranes. When these cells are damaged, your body is damaged, creating the foundation for disease and accelerated ageing.
Normally, the body can handle free radicals, but if antioxidants are unavailable, or if the free-radical production becomes excessive, damage can occur. Of particular importance is that free radical damage accumulates with age (Health Check Systems).
Free radicals are implicated in the formation of cancers and in increasing the risk of heart disease. They are even believed to be responsible for the aging process in general. So neutralizing them is very beneficial.
Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by donating one of their own electrons, ending the electron-“stealing” reaction. The antioxidant nutrients themselves don’t become free radicals by donating an electron because they are stable in either form. They act as scavengers, helping to prevent cell and tissue damage that could lead to cellular damage and disease (Health Check Systems).
Prayers:
Thank God for the gift of life and His covenant of life both in length & quality.
Accept responsibility for looking after your body, making necessary adjustments and choices that build your body up.
Pray for understanding & knowleged of provisions that are available to you and receive the wisdom to apply them.
Thank God for help and mercies to heal the sick by the stripes of Jesus.
References:
A) The Bible
B) http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating
C) http://www.fitnessforoneandall.com/books/preview/ggfep.htm
D) http://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2013/january2013/fighting-free-radicals-do-you-need-antioxidants
God Bless
Dupe Adefala
Pastor
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