Last week I switched gears from a mentally challenging College class, to a physically challenging community based ministry. This physical challenge was intensified because a friend had borrowed my car, so I walked everywhere.
thankfully the Lord gave strength to meet the physical challenges of last week. But it was an important reminder for me of a lesson I’m still struggling to learn.
your physical health is almost as important as your spiritual health
Being in the ministry means you’re on the front-lines of spiritual warfare. This demands you take very good care of yourself spiritually using disciplines such as Bible reading, prayer, memorisation, and fellowship with Believers.
The sad truth is I do a very good job of keeping myself in shape spiritually, but struggle sometimes keeping myself in shape physically.
It’s not that I don’t want to take care of myself physically. But bad habits are hard to break:
- Like eating unhealthy meals
- Or not eating regularly (and then eating too much later)
- Not taking the proper vitamins or supplements
- Or putting off “strength training” 1.
the problem with this is poor physical health can affect my ministry almost as much as poor spiritual health. It doesn’t matter how much I want to do a job if my body has run out of energy!
The simple truth is Christians must have a complete view of health that not only has a desire to do the work of God, but also has the energy and mental clarity to do the work of God
With the Lords help I am establishing healthy habits to combat my old ones:
- Cooking proper meals ahead of time
- Carrying vegetables or nuts for a quick snack
- Planning out short cat-naps during the day
- And making strength exercises part of my daily routine
Through this process the Lord is teaching me that effectiveness comes as my spiritual and physical health work together.
It is possible for God to use someone who is out of shape, but He can do much more through someone who is disciplined physically.
- I need to add muscle onto my body ↩
Johnhwilburn.org 