Introduction to Wellness (Part 2)
In Part 1, we discussed both the physical and mental aspects of wellness. We, also discussed how those aspects of wellness can have an effect on spiritual wellness. In fact, the answer to the issues that we deal with on the physical and mental side can be conquered if we learn to prosper spiritually. John said it this way:
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (III John 2).
John was speaking to one, Gaius, whom he loved in the truth. John was setting in order a foundational truth concerning wellness. Our soul’s must proper first (spiritual) before we can ever realize prosperity in the mental and/or the physical. The word prosper in this scripture comes from the greek word eudoo. It means to help on the road, i.e. succeed in reaching. The idea here is not based in worldly riches as much as it is based in the idea of striving for excellence. In other words, “as good and outstanding your soul is, I wish that same good and outstanding condition for you and your health.”
A life of wellness is a life of excellence.
However, the picture that the world shows of wellness is taken from an outside-looking-in perspective. Just look at the multi-billion dollar industries of dieting and fitness. You do not have to drive too far without seeing a trendy fitness club in almost every town. Our advertising is filled with every diet plan imaginable. How do both industries effectively market? They, oftentimes, show before and after images of people who have “successfully” entered their gym or subscribed to their diet. The results from those pictures cannot be denied. Some people have lost tens of hundreds of pounds. The problem is that in both instances, they are outside-looking-in focused and the majority of people will spend thousands of dollars and not get the same results … or if they do, can they sustain it?
Forbes magazine ran an article in May of 2016 concerning the reality show, The Biggest Loser. In that article they referenced a study published in the journal Obesity that checked on 14 of the show’s contestants six years after they had completed the show. Many of the contestants had regained a fair amount of the weight back and had a significantly slower metabolic rate compared to people who had never been overweight.
What if our advertising and changed. Instead of looking at the issue of obesity from the lens of how one looks, what if we start looking at obesity from the standpoint of health and wellness. What if we start to really look at combating the epidemic from the health perspective instead of the looks perspective. Inside-out instead of outside-in.
You may think that I am against proper dieting and keeping physically active and fit. On the contrary, the road to good physical health start with diet and exercise. The bible even talks about it this way:
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come (I Timothy 4:8).
This scripture is not saying that bodily exercise has no value. It is contrasting physical exercise to godliness and how they both weigh in this life and in eternity. There is no comparison. This is really the inside-out perspective. Don’t get me wrong we need to take care of these physical bodies for they are the temple of the Holy Ghost. So diet and exercise have their place and their importance in maintaining good health. The “temple” should not be sickly. However, when our focus is more on the “temple” than the Holy Ghost that is in the temple then our perspective must change. That mis-focus can come from overindulging the flesh either by lack of discipline (overeating) or also from too much focus on how it looks (vanity). Both are overindulgences of the flesh.
I have spent most of this part talking about the physical. However, the same can be said of the mental. The “mental health” industry is also a multi-billion dollar industry that also suffers from the same outside-in focused solutions. Whether its psychotherapy or medicine, most of the time this industry is only treating the symptoms not the real problems (We will delve more into this issue in future posts).
Whats the solution? The question should be phrased Who is the solution?
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach to gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).
This was the scripture that Jesus read in the synagogue to establish the beginning of his earthly ministry. Just as it was back then, it is still true today. People have great needs … and those needs start on the inside. If those needs go unfulfilled, the effects of those unfulfilled needs show up on the outside. In other words, sickness on the inside eventually shows up as sickness on the outside. Whether this sickness is physical or mental. Whether it manifests itself through overindulgences or even addictions. There is only one answer to having our needs fulfilled … and it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to take care of our inner-most needs (heal the broken-hearted, deliver the captives, recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised). He came to make us well in all aspects of our lives. He came to take care of the inside that it might show-up well on the outside.
Today’s worldly solutions to wellness are not sustainable. Jesus is the only one, through the work of the Holy Spirit, who can sustain the soul and make us well … both inside and outside.
JEFF