Key Thought: "The Word of God gives us good reasons to take care of our health."

"The Word of God gives us good reasons to take care of our health." I am compelled to meditate on this thought, not as an academician preparing to write a commentary on a Sabbath School lesson. The key thought compels me as one Christian attempting to live within the context of the Christian lifestyle, and all that it means for me holistically, as woman, as Christian, as sinner saved by the compassion of God’s benevolent grace to write from a place that I find comfortable and comforting—the first person.

Thus, as I think of the "Bible and Health," I am reminded of a text I repeat often—sometimes in a whisper and, more often, in prayer. John writes in 3 John 3:2: "Dear Friend [Ramona], above everything else I want things to go well with you and for your body to be as healthy as your soul" (Clear Word, 1399).

That is how I come to these pages baptized by John’s wish for me. Please understand, John’s desire is my wish for you also. In that wish, I believe, is a clarion call for health—physical, mental, and spiritual. The implication here is clear. In order for the physical body to prosper, the soul must be well also. The two are like twins. This text also forges upon me the necessity to ask what I believe are critical questions. However, before I ask the critical questions, let me signify on a traditional African American spiritual. The spiritual:

Wade in da’ water
Wade in da’ water chillin’
God’s gonna’ trouble the water.

Let me, saints, "wade in da’water." Be patient with me as I consider the biblical health plan meditatively.

For sure, I must say that the African American spiritual urges me to consider the biblical health plan in a practical way. I am reminded of Jesus, the Healer, as I read Matthew 4:23. I imagine how "Jesus went on foot throughout the country of Galilee, spreading the good news of the presence of God’s kingdom by teaching in the synagogues, preaching in the open air, and healing people of every kind of sickness" (Matt. 4:23). And I imagine the people were excited as the sick were healed. Some probably smiled in appreciation; some may have cried; others may have simply whispered an amen or thank you, Jesus. However, I can only imagine the person in the crowd that may not have been healed. The critical question: What happens to the Christian who Jesus does not heal? What does that say about the authority of God as healer.

I hear the old folks say, "wade a little more, just wade." And I do, although the critical question weighs deep down inside of me as I consider the implications of the term moderation. The challenge for the Christian who yearns to be healthy is to be moderate, temperate in all things. And, of course, to "[r]ejoice in the Lord" (Phil. 4:4). And yet, I am faced with critical questions—-what if I rejoice in the Lord, what if I eat a healthy vegetarian diet, study my Sabbath School lesson, return my tithe and offering, and rejoice in the Lord, and I am not granted a healthy life. The critical question: Does rejoicing in the Lord and following all of the physical and spiritual laws of health always result in what is deemed a healthy life in the material world?

I want to know the answer, so I wade on, deeper into my own consciousness to find an answer. Possibly I can be assured of good health if I create "healthy relationships" in my life, meaning if I "love people, be hospitable, and [be] interested in doing good, be[ing] serious, fair, holy and self-disciplined" (Titus 1:8). I hear myself telling a story of a lady I met in the hospital once. She was a Christian, and she was pleasant. She had been kind to everyone that she met. She volunteered at church, she was a loving wife, and her children adored her. When cancer was discovered in her colon, her family prayed for her; they begged God to heal her. Yet she died. The critical questions: Was the woman not kind enough? Did she not love enough people. I even ask myself if it is okay for me to ask the critical questions. I am tired of wading in the water. So, I look to Jesus, my model, the lover of my soul, the one whose identity is summed up in one word: Emanuel: God with us—me, you. Didn’t he ask the Father a critical question:

Dear Father, everything is possible for you,
so please remove this bitter cup of
suffering that I’m drinking.
But I’m willing to do whatever you want me to do (Clear Word; Mark 14:36)

What I hear in Jesus’ answer to this rhetorical question that begins "Dear Father" is this: I will accept the answers you give me, Lord. That is how my soul shall be healthy, prosperous. If I am moderate in all things, if I sustain heath relationships, but I am not healed by Jesus the healer, I will not wade from the baptismal water of faith because I know that "in the end, what was lost when sin entered will be restored when the One who created becomes the One who restores His creation" ("The Bible and Health," 74). My faith guarantees me a place in the new earth because, as John says, "those who are blessed are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and have lived by his commandments. This is what gives them the right to the Tree of Life and to enter through the gates into the City" (Rev. 22:14).

"The Bible and Heath." Indeed, the Bible offers a biblical paradigm for the Christian who yearns to live a healthy life. Rest assured, ultimate health for each Christian is a place in the Heavenly Kingdom. That I do believe!

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