What Does The Bible Say About Health?
Video Timeline
WELCOME
0:00 - Welcome with Matt, Chris & Sue
TALK with Matt Edmundson
07:27 - What Does The Bible Say About Health?
07:33 - Our Relationship With Health
08:15 - How Do I Know I Am Healthy?
09:08 - How Does God's Word Define Health?
13:31 - My Journey With Health
16:21 - A Healthy Body
17:45 - The Bible On Food And Drink
19:15 - Is It Okay For A Christian To Drink Alcohol?
21:51 - How To Avoid Excess
23:59 - Intermittent Fasting
24:56 - What About Exercise?
26:23 - So How Do I Go About Getting Healthy?
WORSHIP
28:49 - Only In You Jesus with lyrics
CONVERSATION STREET with Matt and Chris & Sue Holcombe
33:50 - Conversation Street
CLOSING WORSHIP
58:05 - Christ Our Hope In Life And Death with lyrics
Podcast:
What does the Bible say about Health?
— Matt Edmundson
Our relationship with health
My default when I think about good health is to think about the food I eat, how fit I am and how much weight I am carrying around my stomach. My default is physical health. But since the pandemic started, I now think about my mental health too.
Health is a funny word that means different things to different people, and we each have a different relationship with this idea of health. For some of us, it can be a raw topic and one that we feel shame about. For others of us, we may have become a little too obsessive about it.
How do I know I am healthy?
Is it by how I feel? By how I look? By how many minutes I have spent on a treadmill? How many times have I been sick recently? One fundamental way we do it is to compare ourselves to others. Do I look like that person? That, in itself, is not healthy. And if you think about it - there is no real defining line for health; it is hard to know if we are actually healthy.
So zooming back in, looking at the Bible and asking what health principles God gave could really help us regain a sense of balance in this whole area, something which I think we all could do with.
So how does God's Word define health?
In the Bible, the word health can also be translated as wholeness. To be healthy is to be whole. That's a really good definition of health right there. When you think of health, think of wholeness.
I found that the Bible talks about 5 key areas of health and wholeness. These are:
spirit health,
soul health (Let's just quickly define what the soul is - your soul is your mind and your emotions. So mental health and emotional health come under soul health),
body health,
relationship health and
economic health.
And what fascinates me about this is that in the Bible, they are not all independent of each other, but instead, they are heavily connected to each other. They are all interdependent.
The apostle Paul, who wrote many letters in the Bible, put it this way to the church
“May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together––spirit, soul, and body––and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. ”
Here Paul is praying that they would experience wholeness - that they would be healthy spirit, soul and body - that they would be kept fit. He is linking all of these ideas together. They are interdependent ideas.
It's also essential to notice that God makes us whole. Self-help is OK. Self-Care. Self-Love. Whatever phrase you use doesn't matter because it all comes from self. They are not bad ideas, just limited ones. The best self-care I can do is let the God who formed me make me whole through His grace. The best self-love is to love the Creator who makes us whole and healthy in a way that I could never reach on my own.
The apostle John, one of Jesus' closest friends, also wrote a letter to a dear friend of his called Gaius, and he opens it like this:
“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.”
Here, John links economic health and body health to soul health. In other words, your economic and body health will somehow be limited to the strength of your soul health - which is your mind and emotions. This idea is critical because if you are strong in body health, but your relationships are in a mess and you don't have healthy thinking, then you are not whole. In other words, health is not just about your body health; it is about you being whole spiritually, about being mentally healthy and physically healthy, as well as emotionally, economically and relationally.
My Journey With Health
So this is all great in theory, but how does it work practically? Good question.
A few years ago, I had poor physical health. I was overweight and unfit. Then I was fit, but still on the plump side and struggling with diabetes, so when I looked at the five areas, God showed me that I needed to change three specific things:
The first one was my spiritual health. It is the centre and key to everything. For me, it was clear that I had issues with self-control. And yes, that is a spiritual issue because the Bible calls it a fruit of the Spirit - something that manifests in you as the Holy Spirit lives in you.
Then there was my soul health (which was closely linked to my thinking) because our media and culture had so misshaped it. My thoughts needed renewing but so did how I felt, my emotional well being about the whole thing. I needed to see this all through God's eyes and let Him shape my thinking.
And, of course, I had to work on my physical health.
Had I just worked on my body health, I would have done what I'd always done - and fallen back into the stop-start, stop-start give up pattern that I get stuck in. So I needed to deal with my spirit health and my soul health too.
With that foundation laid, I do want to start by looking at this idea of physical health. In future livestreams, we are going to touch on some of these other areas, like our mental health, our thinking, our relationships and so on so make sure you are subscribed to get notified when we do.
A healthy body
Let me start by saying that the Bible is pretty silent about your body shape, ideal BMI, having a six-pack or how we look. As a society, we have placed a tremendous value on our looks, our obsession with plastic surgery, fillers and so on are. The trouble is body dysmorphia is on the rise at an alarming rate, as are eating disorders. This is not the Gospel! Jesus was never about finding value and identity in how I look. Proper health comes from our identity in Christ, which is not wrapped up in our body mass or shape. The Bible, though, does talk about what to eat and drink, and how to exercise and rest.
The Bible on food and drink
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ”
This is a great guiding principle - eat and drink to the glory of God. But what does it mean to do this to the glory of God? I think it means a lot of things - but mainly in worship and celebration of Him. Don't separate your food from your Christian faith. When you do something to the glory of God - you are thinking about something much bigger than yourself at that moment.
This, for me, not only covers what I eat but also how I eat.
How much should I eat & drink?
And this is where I struggled. I couldn't just eat one cookie. I had to eat the whole packet; it was what the Bible calls excess, or gluttony.
It seems that excess doesn't glorify God which also applies to drink - especially alcohol.
Is it OK for a Christian to drink alcohol?
This is quite a common question in the church. There is a famous joke that floats around that Jesus turned the water into wine and the evangelicals have been trying to turn it back ever since. We see Jesus turning water into wine and we see Him drinking wine, but we don't see Jesus drunk, we only ever see Him hanging out with drunk people. In fact, the Bible tells us to avoid getting drunk, which it also calls excess.
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit ”
So a critical biblical principle is this idea of excess - but what does it mean? Food and drink are good. And most of our natural foods are a gift from God. I am not sure about sprouts; they may have come due to the fall!. Part of God's gift to us is food and drink. Too much though, is excess; it is gluttony. We can over consume what God gives us, and it goes from being good to being bad. If I consume too much carbs and sugars, I am at risk of diabetes. One translation says that excess will ruin your life. Too much food, too much drink ruins your life - something we all intuitively know to be true.
I would also venture to say that not eating enough food is another form of excess, and that can also ruin your life.
How to avoid excess
This is tricky isn't it - and you will know this to be true if you have wrestled with food and diets. Fortunately, there is hope in the Gospel of Christ! I mentioned earlier that I could work on my spirit health in the area of self control because self control is a fruit of the spirit - which is something that the Holy Spirit who lives in me, manifests in my life.
In other words, to get the physical self control, I can let the Holy Spirit work in me - and this transformed my thinking because it stopped being about me striving and what I could do in my own strength, and it became more about relying on Him, listening to Him and allowing Him to work in my life. This, in turn, has changed what and how I eat over time. Let me tell you, this idea is life-giving to the Christian because it is based on His grace; it is based God's strength and not my own. It is less about me and it is shame-free!
I've started to do a really simple thing, I try and pray before I eat anything. It might sound silly, or even over kill - but you know what, it works for me. I just ask the Holy Spirit, should I eat this? It has worked well for me because it was easier for me to do this, and obey His promptings than it was to try and will myself into a dietary change.
Intermittent fasting
Of course, one of that ways that the Holy Spirit leads in self control and excess where food is concerned is fasting. It turns out that both Science and the Bible agree that fasting regularly is good for your health. It's also an excellent way to help develop the spiritual fruit of self-control.
So what did I learn about exercise?
“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. ”
Physical training, or exercise, in the Bible, is called good. And that's important. But again - notice the link between physical health and spiritual health here - physical training is good, but godliness is better. Godliness is spiritual health.
In the Bible, we can look at Jesus and see that He was physically active as He would walk everywhere. The Bible often tells us to be strong - as strength is a sign of health. We can have strong, spiritual health and strong, soul health but also be physically strong. So strength training also makes sense to me as well as being physically active.
So how do I go about getting healthy?
Here's a truth that we all know to be true: none of this is automatic. You have to work at it. You have to partner with the Holy Spirit. Spirit health involves the uncommon art of faith, risk-taking and self-control. Strong mental health means working on your thought patterns, which is never easy. You have to work at relationship health, economic health and body health. That's the way it is. You have to come to a place where you surrender your ideas and beliefs to God and then partner with Him, and when we do, yes, it is hard but is also life-giving.
We may find it hard in one or two areas - such as those that suffer long-term illness or disability. So what can you do? What is the Holy Spirit highlighting to you today? Where do you need to partner with him?
Look at the five areas and pray into that. Things aren't always straightforward. I said at the beginning many of us have a strange relationship with health. Some obsess about it. Some feel a lot of shame here, but God makes us whole, makes us truly healthy; He is the only one that can do that. You might be able to workout harder, but He is the only one that can transform you spirit, soul & body!
So remember, when we work with the Holy Spirit and let Him change our hearts and minds, then real, divine, shame-free, balanced, life-giving, biblical health and wholeness can flourish in us, and that can happen starting right now.
CONVERSATION STREET
With: Matt Edmundson and Chris & Sue Holcombe.
What is Conversation Street?
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt with Chris & Sue) chat through Matt’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. To watch the conversation now, click here.
Matt: So let's talk about health. Everyone has a different relationship with health and I think you guys would have seen this probably more than most.
What are some of the things that you have noticed in terms of how people respond and think about health?
Sue: Well, one of the things that I find fascinating is, in a clinic, you might have an 86 year old, who we may ask, have they got any medical problems? They say, "no, no, no". And then you say, are you on any medication? And then they bring out this long list of about 20 tablets that they're on for their blood pressure, their kidneys etc. but they don't perceive themselves as any having any problems. So, in a funny sort of way that puts that context of health and how we see it in a nutshell because if their problem is fixed, it isn't a problem. It isn't always the case, but it's still common.
Matt: Is that something you've noticed as well, Chris?
Chris: Yeah, I think that's true. I like what you were saying about what the Bible says about that wholeness of health. It's just so important, isn't it? Much of life, and much of what we do, is very much about wholeness. They all interact with each other, and if one of those areas is out of kilter, it undoubtedly affects the rest. You see that in the media with rich and famous people who, apparently have everything, but their life is miserable.
Having said that, we both work in the field of breast cancer which can land at the very hard end of health with people often developing cancer. More commonly that's due to lifestyle, but an awful lot of it isn't. People then get cancer and then die from it. But I guess that's what we all do. We will all one day move on.
What About Chronic Illness?
Matt: Sometimes, there might be a few occasions in life where all five areas of health are doing really well, and then now and again one of them takes a blip and relies quite heavily on the other areas to take the strain. One of the questions that have come in is, how can I be healthy if I suffer from chronic illness? You guys see this all day long. Have you got any thoughts around this humungous question?
Sue: Well, I think it goes back to what you were saying, Matt, about aligning those five things. I find that people who have a disease, whether that be breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, any of those things, the attitude of the person makes an awful lot of difference to how they recover. Some people come to whatever they have with a very positive outlook. I think people with faith tend to do better than the people that have no belief or faith. I've never researched that, but I think some research would suggest that people who have a strong faith do better with chronic disease.
There's always a disappointment when you're diagnosed with a chronic disease. Chris's dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure and was ashamed of it. He didn't want to take his tablet because he thought somehow there was something bad about it. Actually, the answer to the rest of his life was to do what the doctors had recommended because this thing could be treated. You can argue about whether or not we should have treatment or whether we should pray for healing. For me, being in the medical profession, I feel to go first to your physician and see what they have to offer. Take what they prescribe because then you actually may well be able to live your life for a lot longer.
There's a whole history of why health care is good, and why doctoring first started through biblical teaching and training. There are people that have trained, and have shown us good things. So, all of those five areas must be aligned for people with chronic disease to do well. If there's one of those things that is out of kilter, then the others tend to be a bit shaky. If you've got God at the centre of your life, and your emotions sorted out, then you might still be disappointed with the circumstances, but you'll have the right structure in place to deal with that disappointment. You can talk to somebody, talk about how you feel, tell God that you're cross, then you can start to say to God, "Okay God, I'm giving you all those emotions. I'm giving you all this upset, this worry, this anxiety, what's next?
Chris: I mean, some big themes are going on here. It's all based on a belief. The underlying belief is, suffering is bad, imperfection is bad. Really, the way modern Western society thinks is, avoiding suffering is the greatest aim. But what the Bible tells us is, there's something more important than that. One relationship with God is more important than being rich, it's more important than being perfect, it's more important than having perfect health. Suddenly, that gives a perspective that allows for fullness and health, as you defined it, in the context of imperfection, and chronic disease and illness.
Of course, I'd be the first not to volunteer for chronic ill-health. That's not what I want. But having that mindset gives you a possibility of thriving despite ill-health and despite imperfection. Some of that is shown through the long history of martyrdom in the church since the early disciples and Jesus Himself. But actually, these are men and women who are saying, there's something more important here than life. God, and my relationship with Him is even more important than that. So it's this picture in the Bible that our ease is not the most important thing in life.
Matt: I've got here a quote that says, "many think suffering is the worst thing that can happen to you, and that happiness is the best thing that can happen to you. But after living with chronic illness, I discovered that separation from God is definitely the worst." She also went on to say, "I used to rate God's goodness based on how well my life was going. I felt entitled to a better life and if God did not bow down to my will, then I judged that he was not a good God."
Chris: We need a full reading of the Bible don't we? The Bible is full of stories about life. There are great men of God who were murderers, people who have chronic disease and people who have mental disease. So, we need a faith that's big enough to encapsulate all of life.
Sue: I guess if there's a 21st-century disease it's that we're entitled. It's a comment people make about a lot of things. I should have more. I should be better. I should be. In reality though, God has given us everything we need for life. We're not entitled to anything. But the trouble is that reality for people in their daily lives is, how do I cope with this? What I would say is, you need to have a touch of honesty about who you are and what you really think and feel. You did that quite clearly, Matt, in your looking at yourself. You said, I'm not happy with who I am. That takes a bit of honesty, doesn't it? Often, we're not honest. The number of patients that we see who say,
"I've tried to lose weight" and "I only eat lettuce leaf".
It's always the same. Then I might say,
"Look, I've got weaknesses. I tend not to buy chocolate because I know if I buy it, I'll eat it." Then your lovely patient will say,
"oh, yes, I really like crisps."
"oh, so how many packets of crisps do you eat?"
"Five a day."
But they haven't factored that into what they eat in their meals. So, that's what I mean by honesty. When you're coming to your disease, when you're coming to how you feel. When you're the person that's been diagnosed with post natal diabetes, you're a young woman, you now have to insulin, your life has been changed. You can't do the things you used to do. Don't underestimate the effect that's had on you. Don't just say, okay, I can just pray and God'll sort it out. That is true. You can just pray and God will sort it out, but I would recommend totally, that you go to somebody and you share it and pray together. This will have a much bigger impact.
Chris: And God is big enough. Our faith in our God is big enough. We've seen people with all this stuff before. He can cope.
Matt: That's good advice. Just bringing it back round to some of the more practical aspects of this then. You mentioned about eating five packets of crisps and not counting that in your meals. When I got my head around foods that were good for me and foods that were bad for me, I didn't end up praying to God for healing because I didn't need to.
Can I Eat What I Like?
Matt: One of the questions that we've been asked, what's your philosophy when it comes to food? For example, do you believe you can just eat what you like?
Chris: We're back to gluttony a bit. So, food is a complex business. To be begin with, there's a huge emotional element to food. We live in what's described as the obesogenic environment, which is, if you go to buy a couple of screws at b&q, there's a coffee shop with cakes there. At the other end of the scale, there's not eating enough and body dysmorphia. I think you have to think about food in some way though. You need to have a healthy spiritual identity in God to avoid the under-eating. If you get to 40 or 50 and you still haven't thought about food, then you're going to be overweight. It will just happen. Then there's the sensible stuff. Move more, eat less. I avoid beige foods.
Matt: Avoid beige full stop.
Chris: So, just be sensible. Some people like calorie counting. I think if you have a weight thing, you have to get on the scales at some time or at least think about it. Sue's a bit different to me though. I'm a bit more county. Sue eats much less.
Sue: But Chris is disciplined. I am very different in that respect.
Matt: So you're undisciplined?
Sue: No, but I don't eat to excess. I'm not a food person, though. Food isn't a switch for me. So if somebody says to me, what do you fancy? I think, oh well, whatever. I'm just not bothered by food. So that probably helps me quite a lot.
Chris: But what I say to people is be balanced, don't have too much on your plate (literally). The thing at the moment is veganism isn't it? I think it bothers me that people then start to get socially directed to their thoughts instead of God-directed. I do think we suffer in our current society from being fed things too much. We're told what is good for us, supposedly, and then we're supposed to fit in with that rather than us knowing what's good for us individually because we've researched it properly, not just taken it from wherever.
We have to give it some attention. That was brought home to me with alcohol. I popped round to the local supermarket with someone who was alcoholic, and we were going to get some onions or something. What I realised for the first time was, we walked through the front door, and there was a big pyramid of cheap wine or a deal on beers. So, the food industry and the hospitality industry is marketing all of these things to us. You do to a certain extent have to resist that which some find easier than others.
Matt: I think you have to be very aware of the marketing agencies. Chris, you mentioned body dysmorphia in your clinics. Have you seen an increase in body dysmorphia?
Chris: It's not particularly our field, to be honest. I'm a surgeon so it's more in cosmetic surgery. Undoubtedly though, that's the case and I suppose there is a technical definition of body dysmorphia, but I think that's probably a continuum between not being comfortable with who I am and how I look, to something that would be considered a clinical condition.
And the other thing is, everyone says to me, "look you're thin, you don't have any problem". Well, my son was teasing me about my paunch some years ago. Actually, that was the trigger that made me think about it. When I was young, I could eat whatever I liked, but that's no longer the case. So, I reduced from my diet the things that weren't good for me and started measuring my weight.
Sue: Actually, there is another fallacy about exercise isn't there? "I should do more exercise and I'll lose weight." But the amount of exercise you need to do to lose weight is incredible. You couldn't do it. So, it's a balance. Both things go together.
Chris: And then it has to be part of life. It has to fit in with your normal life and be easy. You have to want to do it otherwise, you won't try.
Matt: Thank you so much Chris and Sue for your insight and your thoughts on that whole topic.
More Bible Verses About Health
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 10:31 - So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Luke 21:34 - Be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 - Don't you know what you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
Isaiah 58:11 - And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
1 Timothy 4:8 - For physical trainging is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Proverbs 3:1 - My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you.
Exodus 15:26 - If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and fo what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.
Proverbs 3:7-8 - Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil; this will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones.
Proverbs 17:22 - A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
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