Years ago, when I was a young bride, I was fortunate enough to read a book that contained comparatively new ideas: You Are What You Eat. It set forth the importance of vitamins and minerals for our physical well-being, and I think I can give part of the credit for the energy and good health I enjoy today to that revolutionary book!
Up until the time that book was published, however, most people didn’t realize the need for a balanced diet. They didn’t realize that fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods are a primary source of food vitamins and minerals. Now we know that milk helps to build and maintain strong bones and teeth, not only in growing children, but in aging adults. The latter can ward off brittle bones and nails by having plenty of milk products in their diets.
Your food and drink can make you healthy, strong and cheerful, or it can make you fat, diabetic, grumpy, depressed and beset by many other physical and emotional problems. For better health, check out the following. Here are some truths that have enabled me to stay healthy and serve the Lord with energy and enthusiasm:
Keeping your spirit bright
When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we become spiritually healthy; He becomes part of us. He can give us peace and a joy that makes our faces and personalities shine. This gives us true beauty…the beauty of Jesus.
Taking in good food each day keeps our bodies in good health. Jesus Christ said He is the “bread of life.” After we receive Him as our Savior, we can draw spiritual nourishment and strength from Him each day. We do that by staying close to Him, abiding in Him as He advised in John 15:1-7. He has helped me to have peace and joy in all kinds of circumstances!
Just as things like alcohol and drugs hurt our bodies, wrong-doing hurts us spiritually. But if when we do something wrong, we repent of it and ask the Lord’s forgiveness, He will cleanse us. He will renew our strength to live a good life for Him.
Many of us already know these truths – but do we practice them? The great tragedy of the church today is that fact that so many Christians have fallen by the wayside – and so many others, although busy-busy for the Lord, exhibit little of the fruit of the Spirit!
God has given us food for good spiritual health, and this food is in His Word, the Bible. Just as we need to eat three times a day, we also need to feed our spirits daily. The prophet Jeremiah said to God,
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty” (Jeremiah 15:16).
Again, many of us know these things – but I have noted that few of us practice them after we reach a certain stage in our Christian experience. Feeling that we have “arrived,” we tend to think we no longer have to feed our spirits. We may prefer to let TV and VCR feed our flesh, and without our realizing it, our old self jumps into the driver’s seat of our lives!
The Word of God is pure and full of spiritual vitamins. The more we eat of it, by reading and hearing it – and the more we practice it in our daily lives – the healthier spirits we will have – and with these we will have a peace and joy that will radiate out from us. These qualities will not only make us lights for our Lord, but along with a good diet, they will lengthen our days and service for Him on earth.
