I have to confess that I have not always been consistent in the area of stewardship. When it comes to work, finances and ministry, I have built a strong discipline for many years.
My health, however, was at one point in my life greatly compromised by bad stewardship. About five years ago, my lungs collapsed twice from exhaustion and lack of proper exercise.
It's amazing to see how God has transformed me in the area of taking care of my body in the past two years. Sometime middle of this year, I was able to run two half marathons, and I'm going for my third one next month.
Some of you might be wanting to change the way you treat your body and health, but I of many people know how hard and seemingly impossible that is. It's on every New Year's Resolution that's gone by February.
What we really need is not a change of behavior, but a complete renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2) through a Spirit-empowered revelation of the way God views health.
Matthew 6:25 tells us, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"
What really strikes me most about this scripture is the comparisons it makes at the latter part. It takes these two things of high intrinsic value — life and body — and compares them with two seemingly valuable but not as valuable things — food and clothing, respectively.
It's no coincidence that food and clothing, in some sense, are the two biggest enemies to good health. Unhealthy food and vanity (clothing) are what generally prohibit people from being healthy. The food we eat can poison us when it's unchecked and unbalanced.
On the other hand, the constant call for external vanity — being presented with ways to temporarily cover up our problems at surface level — hides the true problem that is really beyond skin deep.
You see, health issues are not just body issues, but really heart issues. The way we treat our bodies really correlates with our attitude towards God's gift of life and health. Obviously God values our life and bodies. Jesus said so Himself.
But we don't often show the same heart and value as God does for our physical bodies because we value other things: convenience, pleasure, satisfaction and many other earthy things that destroy instead of build.
A heart aligned to God's will cause us to value health more than food and vanity because when we value the things of God, we show Him how much we value Him as well. And that's what we call worship: the adoration of God and the things that He values. That's why valuing our health is a form of worship to God.
Health is worship not simply for our actions in the same way that worship is not simply lifting hands and singing (though those things are important). It all begins with the heart and our values. Do we value the same things God does? When we do, we show Him how much we value and love Him as well.
