The health message

The health message

When told to not eat something that would be harmful to their health, some people reply, “You got to die of something.” You could take the argument even further by saying that since Christ is returning, why should we strive to be healthy? On this side of eternity we will always have sinful bodies. And, these bodies will decay and get sick. Our bodies are corruptible and mortal. The argument could be, “Who cares if in heaven we will not have this body anyway?” After the resurrection we will be given new bodies. These bodies will be incorruptible and immortal. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15,

1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Many oppose this line of reasoning by saying, “We need to be healthy because of the Hoy Spirit dwelling in us.” Again, Paul writes to the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

He reiterates this in 2 Corinthians, let us read,

2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

In other words we cannot do with our bodies whatever we want, because the Spirit owns it and dwells in it. They cite this as the reason why we should not smoke. You are damaging something that does not belong to you and is the dwelling place of another being. The logic behind this is that if you do what is right He will stay, if you do not do what is right He will leave. However true, there is a subtle motivation for reward and or fear of punishment, in this reasoning. It is not based on love - agape. God loves us so much that He wants to live intimately close to us. That’s why He wants to dwell in us. So what does this have to do with being physically healthy?

It is an issue of character building. To live eternally with God we need characters that are used to yielding to the Holy Spirit. This means that the Holy Spirit is prompting us and training us to choose to develop habits and practices that we will do in eternity. He will lead us to go back to the original diet - eating what Adam and Eve ate before the fall. As we read in Genesis 1:29,

Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

He will lead us to live the pure and simple lives that we will live in eternity. So you stop smoking not only because it is bad for you and the Holy Spirit will depart from you if you do not. You primarily do it because you know He loves you and you want to love Him back. You do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit’s heart. There is a difference between wanting Him to stay dwelling in you because, you know that His departing from you breaks His heart and wanting Him to stay because you feel safe that He is in you. The former is based on agape and that latter is based on self love. Which one do you prefer?

Raul Diaz