God’s Revelation and Healthy living
Are we ‘living in the truth’ when it comes to God’s revelation, including God’s food guide? It is God’s wish to prosper us so we can be in good health, and experience a successful, abundant life. But we must be walking in the truth — actually doing the things that produce health. And the scriptures offer important advice on spiritual and physical wellbeing.
We live in a time when the whole world has been seduced to believe in lies, and has wandered from the truth, the reality. As a result, we suffer the consequences of being divorced from reality, and one of those consequences is ill health. Many Christians have been taught that what you do physically does not impact your life spiritually, but this is not the reality as defined by God’s divine revelation. So what is the truth of the matter?
Have You been Taught All Things?
Christ’s disciples were given authority to go to all nations to teach ‘all things’ and this included information we all need to maintain good health. It was information that could not have been known through the science of the time in which it was written. So in God’s goodness he revealed it to us through his word. The word of truth, the word that gives us life.
Malachi, prophesied of a time when the Messiah would return with ‘healing in his wings’ for those who feared God. And at the same time he commanded the people to ‘remember the law of Moses’ — God’s revelation to his people. Many Christians no longer accept this advice from God, penned by Moses, as the word of truth. Yet, the apostles after Christ’s death and resurrection were still advising God’s people, including the gentile converts, to go and hear the law of Moses read to them every Sabbath. Why? Because through God’s word he would reveal a way of life that if obeyed would bring good results.
We Reap What We Sow
The apostle Paul confirmed this principle when he said, “Don’t be deceived, what you sow, you reap.” God gave us his revelation so we could sow what is good and reap the benefits. And he cautioned, that God is not mocked, and his precepts cannot be scornfully set aside. Paul rehearses some of the things revealed in the law of Moses. And he confirms that physical sins like alcohol abuse, sexual immorality, and greed have both physical and spiritual consequences. Science today can validate with statistics the negative health consequences of alcoholism, or sexually transmitted diseases. But God had revealed this millennia ago in the teachings that he gave to his people.
Advice from God’s Food Guide
Today science also tells us that diet plays an important role in wellbeing. And God did not neglect this aspect of healthy living in his teaching. Canada has created a new food guide to reflect new information culled from scientific research. But perhaps we should consider the information given to us by our Creator, the one who designed food for our bodies. So what advice does God’s food guide reveal?
God’s food guide told the people to eat neither blood nor fat. He also gave them specific instructions as to what protein food was fit for human consumption. He repeated it twice for effect in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Check it out for yourself! Daniel took this advice to heart when he and his friends were captives in Babylon. In a daring move they refused to consume the food or drink of the king — meat that was both common and/or unclean — and would only eat vegetables and drink water. But God blessed them in their obedience to him, and they were healthier than their peers as a result. There was cause and effect.
Is God’s Food Guide for Christians?
Many teachers in the Christian world use Peter’s vision of the sheet with all the ‘creepy crawlies’ to try and argue that God changed his law. But is this the truth? Peter in relating the vision confirmed that he would not ‘kill and eat’ what is common or unclean, even when an angel told him to do so! Peter knew there must be more to the story, than to directly disobey God’s food guide! And indeed there was! As God later revealed, the vision was an allegory to teach Peter, that no man was common or unclean. And it would be Peter’s job to begin to teach the Gentiles about God, Jesus the Messiah, and “all things” —including God’s food guide.
The human digestive system has not changed over the milennia and neither has God’s food guide. God gave his laws to the nation, so they could teach other nations what was good health practice. What we sow we reap, nationally and individually. So how are you doing health-wise? Do you need to make some changes? Perhaps a good start would be to consider God’s teachings and begin to apply them to your life. Don’t let alcohol, sexual indiscretions, or diet continue to create bad consequences. Listen and follow God’s instructions for wellness, because his desire is that you should prosper and be in good health.