A healthy Lifestyle: Your Living Sacrifice

A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE is a faith-based book on healthy living. It provides you a Biblical approach to understanding health and well-being. Mary engages you in a scriptural perspective of a healthy lifestyle. By drawing inspiration from the Bible, she takes the reader on an unforgettable trip through a healthy journey. The book covers important topics that scientists have discovered to be connected to longevity and living a healthy life.

This book is part of Mary’s series on Christianity and Lifestyle. Get your copy here. You can also buy directly from Amazon using your country’s Amazon website.

In this faith-based book on healthy lifestyles, Mary discusses topics such as eating healthy, avoiding junk food and overindulging, exercising on a regular basis, caring for your mental and emotional well-being, relaxation, and making investments in your health and well-being, among others. All discussions are supported by scriptures.

As we seek to grow in our walk with God, we should also desire to have good health. Mary’s approach to understanding health from biblical stance is to motivate you to make the decision to take control of the factors that influence your health and well-being. Mary encourages the reader that the love of God is irrespective of size and shape, who you are, how you look, where you come from and what you have done in your past. But, to live and glorify God even in the flesh, is an intentional journey focusing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As you read this book, be prepared to change your lifestyle to incorporate healthy patterns. The book highlights a few actions you can take to live a healthier life.

This book does not create a meal plan or exercise routine for you. The book uses scripture to explain how God wants us to care for our health and well-being. There are either questions or suggested action steps at the end of each topic to help the reader develop practical steps to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

About the Author

Mary E. Agronah (PhD) is a wife, a mother, a Christian content writer, a counselor, an academic, a prolific writer and a devout follower of the Lord. She is a disciplemaker who wants everyone to have a good relationship with God. She is passionate about God-centered lifestyles that promote physical and mental well-being. She creates intriguing masterpieces by combining linguistic mastery, creativity, and faith.

A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE

Check this book here here. Available for purchase on Amazon.

A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE

Guard your heart

The heart is the remote control of the body. Even if the whole body is strong but the heart is weak, the entire body is affected.  It is therefore important to guide our heart as much as we can. Beside sicknesses that affect the heart, we could also create an environment that causes the heart to be affected. If we fail to put barriers around our heart, we allow everything to enter the heart and some of these ultimately contaminate the heart. No one should desire to walk with an unfiltered heart. We are leaving in strange times and if we fail to control what goes into our heart, we lose control over our own bodies. How do we ensure that we operate with a heart free from all vices that contaminate it? 

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23)

The book of Proverbs presents different ways to keep the heart safe. Proverbs 23 gives advice about getting wisdom at all cost. If we operate in wisdom, we secure our heart from things that are not relevant. We are admonished to guard our hearts at all cost: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). What we allow to enter our hearts hold the key to the issues in our lives. The NKJV version states that, “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” We are responsible for regulating what goes into our hearts. If we allow bad thoughts and impure ideas to enter our hearts, they stay in there and regulate our actions. If we allow good thoughts to enter our hearts  they stay in there and bear good fruits. Even our health is largely dependent on what we allow to enter our hearts.

When we understand that our hearts are the remote control of our lives, we will be considerate with whatever goes into it. Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, sinful actions etc. begin with what we allow into our hearts. Our actions are a reflection of a much bigger picture: pouring out what is in our hearts. If we allow good things into our hearts, we reflect goodness in our lives. If we allow bad things to enter our lives, we reflect evil. Whether we live healthy lifestyles or unhealthy lifestyles is a reflection of what goes into our hearts. Whether we live cheerfully or bitterly is a reflection of what goes on in our hearts. Whether we get happy for the progress of others, or we get jealous that others are advancing in life, is a reflection of what goes into our hearts. Paul in his letter to the Phillipian church made these profound statement:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Make a conscious effort to allow things that will not harm your heart to have access to your heart. 

Do not dwell on the part: Start investing into your well-being

Whenever I look at the pictures taken during my marriage ceremony, I beam with a smile. I  always compliment my very cute self and hold on to the fact that I have been very cute before. Certainly, my body has undergone different changes in the past few years. Age and childbirth have been instrumental in these changes. However, if I desire to have a glimpse of my cute self, I should work towards that. Admiring my photos alone will not change anything. If you are looking forward to maintaining a specific weight, do not be content just looking at the past. It doesn’t change anything. It is important to know that not everyone is able to maintain the same body appearance for years. We need to understand that genetics, age, and other factors play a major role in our physical changes. However, as much as we can, we should be intentional about investing in our health and well-being. 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.(Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19)

Memories of the past should inspire us to strive for the best. We are not past dwellers! In fact, our faith proclaims newness. God is from the past, in the present and in our future.  He moves in each dispensation but He still remains the same. He does not just want us to dwell in the past. He does new things each day and so must we! In Isaiah 43:18-19, God encourages His people with these words: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Dwelling on the past alone stalls growth and progress. If you have tried to take care of your health in the past and have failed, do not dwell on that to determine another failure. Consciously let go of the former lifestyles that caused you pain and weariness. Motivate yourself with the word of God that your newness will spring forth and people will perceive it.

Don’t allow others to discourage you. Your past should not cause you to doubt your ability. Neither should you just dwell on past glory and fail to take action to ensure a future success. Start from somewhere: take baby steps to your health and well-being and you will notice a dramatic change in your life. You cannot change the past, but you have control over the future. Don’t be quick to give up on yourself. You are fearfully and wonderfully made to reflect the presence of God. Remember that our health and well-being is important to God. We will give account to God for how well we took care of this flesh. Start investing into your well-being and you will reap the benefits. If you know people who are struggling to let go of the past and take charge of the future, encourage them that God is interested in doing new things in their lives. Let’s bear one another into healthy lifestyles. 

Striving for excellence: A holistic approach to health and well-being

The measure of the quality of our lives is dependent on different factors. Today, let’s consider healthy lifestyles. Everyone desires to have a blissful future with good health and success. I am not sure that anyone who is sane will desire a future with a frail body. Even people who are active in sports have health care for emergency purposes. It is very important to strive for a sustainable future with good health. Definitely, only God knows the future but we should not take that for granted and neglect our health. If we refuse to give attention to our health, God knows that we will be operating with weak bodies in the future. We should consider a holistic approach towards our health and well-being. We should be considerate with whatever goes into us. Food does not make us unrighteous (Matthew 15:11) but food can contribute to adverse health problems. 

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? (Luke 14:28)

In order to live a purpose-driven life, we should purposely consider efforts towards a sustainable future of good health. Accidents do happen but we can control the least accidental situation. Eating unhealthy foods is not an accident. Refusing to exercise the body is not an accident. Not having time to invest in your health is not an accident. We have to intentionally strive for healthy lifestyles. It is a cost we have to bear if we want to live a purposeful life. Jesus asked His disciples in Luke 14:28: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” Have we counted the cost of attaining a healthy lifestyle? Are we ready to make sacrifices to stop eating unhealthy foods because of the implications they have on the body? Are we committed to glorifying God with healthy lifestyles?

We cannot present what we do not have. You cannot preach that Jesus saves when you need to be saved from the clutches of addiction. Imagine waking up to find the preacher in your church in the news for drunk driving. I am not sure, if he gives a sermon on “Living to please God” you will be pleased. Imagine yourself in the court of God and you need to defend yourself about being a good custodian of your body. What will be your defense? An excellent Christian lifestyle is a holistic approach to ensuring both spiritual growth and maturity,  and physical well-being. God wants us to prosper in all we do. He will not do for us what He has entrusted us to do. No amount of grace will cause God to exercise for you. No level of Spirituality will cause you to escape the general needs of the body. If we want to have a fulfilling Christian life, we should be good stewards of our lives. 

Gracious words: Don’t hurt others with your words

The past few blogs have focused on healthy lifestyles. We have considered different ways to maintain a healthy Christian lifestyle. Most times,  we tend to focus on ourselves so much that we miss the point that we can cause others to live unhealthy lives because of our words. Words are so powerful and every idle word has the potential to give life or cause pain. Many people are dealing with internal conflicts about their health and well-being. For some, they have tried all means possible to live healthy lifestyles but things are just not working out. These people need encouragement and support to pull through and not to give up. However, if we start making fun of them, we shoot arrows of despair at them, this could lead to discouragement or low self esteem. These effects can also cause unnecessary health issues. 

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6)

Not everyone is comfortable with unnecessary jokes about their looks. A person’s weight, appearance, demeanor etc. may be attributed to different things. Don’t be quick to call people ‘fat’,  ‘big’, ‘ugly’, ‘tiny’, ‘weak’ etc. In fact, the recent cause of anorexia among teenage girls is mostly caused by some of these comments. Let us teach our children to speak words that will not hurt others. School children have committed suicide because their colleagues called them bad names. Imagine the pain such an idle word brought to the family. Paul in writing to the Church in Colossae admonished that, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone”  (Colossians 4:6). Salt brings taste to food and this allusion is significant. Paul is not encouraging us to be man-pleasers. His advice is for us to use gracious words. Whatever you tell others, imagine it being told to you should you be in the position of that person. 

Instead of offering pain through our words, let’s offer care and attention. Ask if there is anything you could do to help. Extend a helping hand not a hurtful word. Let’s be intentional about what comes out of our mouth. Before you speak, consider yourself in the position of that person. Many people have lived delimited lifestyles because of what others told them about their looks or appearance. Don’t stop people from chasing their dreams because you think they are not like you. As parents, we might be too concerned about our children that we may prevent them from taking part in certain games they love. Basketball, football, badminton, tennis, swimming etc. are all healthy practices. We should help our children to engage in these should they show interest.  Never say, “you are too tiny to play basketball.” You could potentially cause them to have low self-esteem. If their size is related to eating patterns, encourage them to eat well and let them know that to be a good basketball player, they need to be physically strong. 

Remember, “the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:18‭-‬19)

To read more of these, grab my book A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE here.

A sound mind

We need to understand that God has not given us a spirit of fear. The dangers of fear are enormous and in a previous post, we considered different types of fears and how we can overcome them. Our focus for this post is to consider what it means to have a sound mind. A sound mind is a healthy mind,  the state that allows one to make good reasoning and thoughts. It is the totality of your mental well-being and intelligence.  For instance, when a person starts to act differently from the norm (goes to the park and starts to chase people away), that person is considered mentally unfit. The reason is that what the person did lacks intelligence. Similarly, when people undergo emotional trauma and end up with mental health issues, their actions indicate that they are not of sound mind. 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.(2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)

Without a sound mind, one is likely to do things out of the norm. People have signed off their properties to total strangers because of a lack of sound mind. Others have wandered into dangerous situations because of a lack of sound mind. Yet few other people have committed suicide because of a lack of a sound mind. To be honest, we are likely to miss our destination in life when we operate without a sound mind. God is so interested in our mental well-being and the devil has always put fear in us so as to deny us of a sound mind. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul told his protégé Timothy,  that “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” God has given a spirit of sound mind. 

When we understand the importance of operating with a sound mind, we will be intentional about what goes into us. All information  will have to be filtered by the word of God. We need to train our minds to take what is good and to reject what is bad. We do that by filtering every information with the word of God. Further, we should be mindful of what we take in. We cannot consume anything that will be detrimental to our mental health. Consumption of substances that may trigger mental issues should be strictly avoided. Imagine, seeing the General Manager of your firm acting unruly in public as a result of substance abuse. If the same person returns to work the following day in a calm state, we still associate that person to the past attitude. Similarly, we should consider ourselves in the same way. If we understand that our mental well-being is important to God, to us, and to make society a better place for all, we will be considerate with whatever goes into us. 

Remember, when we fail to take charge of our mental well-being, we make ourselves susceptible to pain, shame and ridicule. 

To read more of these, grab my book A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE here.

Healthy lifestyles: Self-control

Living a healthier lifestyle is a great investment and it saves us the stress of illness and weaknesses. If we have the strength and the willpower to live right, we should make it intentional to prioritize our own health. One of the ways we do that is to be intentional about what goes into our body. Not everything sweet is good, and not every food is healthy. Until we put barriers in place to check what we eat, we might end up consuming everything and lose all things. Food is one of man’s greatest needs but the desire to eat should not make us forget the need to do a self-check. Until we know that not everything is good for us, and until we put limits on what we consume, the same food with nutritional value will cause unnecessary health problems. 

Self-control is not a new challenge for humanity. In fact, the first sin was as a result of the inability to control self and staying away from what God had forbidden. Usually referred to as the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve ate what they were not supposed to eat and this began humanity’s woes (Genesis 3). If we think Adam and Eve were the baddest when it comes to obeying God’s command,  let us do a reality check: “Have you ever disobeyed any of God’s laws?” If your answer is ‘yes’, then you are not as good as you think. However God has made provision for us through Jesus (John 3:16). As believers, self-control should be all-encompassing. It is good to have self-control regarding what we consume. Without self-control, gluttony, excessive intake of junk, substance abuse etc. will be a daily struggle. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

God has given us control over what we eat. While others choose to eat plants and animals, some people stay off all animal products. This is a choice and no one is bound by any law to force one to eat only plant-based food. Similarly, the fact that you eat both plants and animal-based food does not make you better than others. Whatever choice we make, we should practice self-control. Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit and he mentions self-control.  Our definition of self-control mostly focus on sexual purity alone. However, self-control is the ability to moderate what we do. Every good thing used without moderation becomes bad. Food is good but eating without control over what we eat leads to bad health. Not everything that smells good needs to be consumed. Even though painkillers aid in taking away pains, should one take a pack of that at once, it is referred to as drug abuse. 

If we fail to control what we consume, we make room for our bodies to pay the price. Take care of your horse (body) and it will take you far.

To read more of these, grab my book A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: YOUR LIVING SACRIFICE here.

Arise and eat

If you have not experienced real hunger, you may never appreciate food. In fact the biggest global pandemic that has been with humanity longer since the history of mankind is hunger. It is the only pandemic with a cure yet it has taken the world 1000s of years to solve it. If you have not experienced extreme hunger before, you may not understand the gravity of it. Do you remember those scenes on your TV with babies with countable ribs? Have you ever seen footage of people holding empty bowls and going through a stampede just because a van carrying food arrived in their community? It is very heartbreaking to know that hunger is not a third world pandemic but a worldwide pandemic. The next time we pour leftover food in the trash can, know that someone else could have survived on that meal. 

And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” (I Kings 19:7)

There cannot be any conversation on healthy lifestyles without stressing on eating appropriately. However if you do not have access to food, a healthy lifestyle is just a delusion. A hungry man is naturally an angry man and anger causes emotional stress. The body doesn’t function well when one is hungry. The limbs become weak, the muscles lose strength and one is likely to faint. No talk on fitness should avoid the fact that we need to eat. A lack of appetite for food (anorexia) can be a medical condition or an emotional condition and needs immediate attention.The Bible presents a unique example, Elijah was afraid for his life and he ran away. He went on “a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). We would expect God to tell Elijah on the spot that “you will not die.” But, on two occasions, the angel of God gave him food. 1 Kings 19:7 (NKJV) records that “And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 

“Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8). Definitely, we see the sustenance of God in this scripture. What we need to know is that even God admonished a hungry prophet to eat. Hunger can cause one to live wayward and most childhood thefts among children of third world countries are caused by hunger. What can we do as a church to help poor members in our communities? What can we do to minimize the impacts of hunger? James asks these questions in James 2:15-15: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

Jesus has made us aware that on the day of judgement, “the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:34‭-‬35‭, ‬40)

You can make a contribution to any organization that helps in food crises, you can drop some food at the food bank and you can invite that lonely person in your church to have supper. You will save lives. God bless.

Enjoy good health!

Good health is a state that everyone desires. In fact, to be healthy is wealth and it saves one from the physical and mental stress that comes with having a sick body. I am yet to find people who pray to get sick and if there are such people on earth, then they are a very strange group of people. However, many people lose sight of the advantages of good health and they take for granted that to be without infirmities is a treasure. A healthy church demonstrates spiritual and physical well-being. The individual members strive for spiritual growth and maturity in the things of God and are also conscious of taking good care of themselves. Let’s imagine our bodies as horses God has given us to go on the journey of life. This journey is long, winding and the paths can sometimes be difficult to tread on. If we fail to take care of the horses that are carrying us for the journey, they will faint and die. 

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. (3 John 1:2) 

John the Elder, writing to his dear friend (Gaius) gave this profound statement: “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” (3 John 1:2). John showed his interest in the physical and spiritual well-being of Gaius. Enjoying good health is a bonus we have from Good if we act as good stewards of the bodies He has entrusted to us. If there is anyone more interested in our well-being, it is God! He has given us all the wisdom needed for godliness, holiness and living healthy. When we choose to ignore our health, we indirectly ignore God’s words to us. One of the ways in which the church can spur members to strive for good health is through sensitizing on healthy Christian lifestyles. 

When the church (as a corporate unit) understands the importance of enjoying good health, there will be an urgency to admonish believers to strive for healthy lifestyles. Further, we need to understand that without the right approach to understanding spiritual growth and the relationship to good health   we might end up having a wrong perception about physical training. God desires that we live in good health, and throughout the New Testament, we see Jesus healing the sick on several occasions to show God’s compassion towards the weak and the vulnerable. All the people who received their healing in the Bible did not remain on their sick beds. Some were told to rise up and walk, others jumped in praise to God, others were commanded to walk to show themselves to the priest, others were told to be given food, others sat up (from their death beds), others stretched their hands to touch Jesus and many other physical activities. When we are trusting God for healing one of the baby steps we can take is to let our bodies respond to healing. Take a walk, eat healthy food, jump if you can and do things that require you to move yourself.

Today, I pray for people who are sick and cannot even move from their beds. I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.