The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.
Deuteronomy 7:15
I used to be the kind of Christian who questions what God had against pork and why he banned the Israelites from eating it. If you were ever as immature as I was, you could have probably looked at scriptures like this and thought, "God is such a killjoy."
In Deuteronomy 14:8, God says, "And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch." The reason why God disallowed pork and gave the Israelites a long list of food laws is not because He wanted to cut people off from the joys of eating good food but because He was wise enough to know what it would do to the Israelites and their health.
Imagine how many people would have died of hypertension and heart ailments if God had allowed pork in such a time where cholesterol was still a foreign idea. God disallowed pork because He valued the health and livelihood of His people.
Nowadays, no one gets banished for eating pork, weird fish and grain harvested from the sides, but that isn't to say that we aren't supposed to watch our food intake anymore. 3 John 1:2 says, "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well."
Health is a gift of God's grace, and it is also a gift that God calls us to value and take care of. While God has given us things to enjoy, he has also directed us so many times to take care of our bodies and honor Him in doing so.
Do you know why God dislikes the idea of worry? Aside from the fact that it stems from unbelief, it is also a very high source of stress, which is one of the top causes of disease and dangerous health conditions.
While we are called to honor God with our hearts and spirit, God also calls us to steward our bodies so that we may be blessed with health and we continue to pursue His purposes for our lives. God is gracious and all powerful, but there's very little you can do with a sick vessel.
The bodies we have are an extension of God's grace, but one that we are also called to take care of through proper diet, exercise, moderation in work and removal of stressors.
How are you honoring God with your body today? Is health and wellness a priority for you today or are there areas that you must also improve in?
