“Health Tips” Article
Do you want an awesome new start to the New Year and your health? Read on.
When you look at your health, and really take inventory of what’s going on, you will quickly find that there are some things that are just, straight up, out of balance. BALANCE is a word that’s thrown around a lot in the health community as being a goal for all of us to achieve maximum health. It’s a great idea. However, it's important that you have your relationship with God as a priority and get it in order first, or the rest is a lot harder, actually even impossible to achieve. When you know who you are in Christ, it’s the foundation that makes the way for you to build your overall health. The Bible says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” –Matthew 6:33 (New Living Translation)
As a kid, growing up in church, I never understood the word righteous. It kind of had a negative connotation in the rest of the world, and so I didn’t understand why we talked about being righteous or living righteously in church. Then, Pastor Rob finally made it clear to me one day about 25 years ago. He said that righteousness is simply being in right-standing with God. No one can achieve it on their own, no matter how good they are, or how many good things they do. The only way to be in right-standing with God is to repent of your sins and ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to come into your heart and be your personal Lord and Savior for ever more. He will forgive you and give you a brand new start. This is a free gift from Him, by grace, and puts you in right-standing with Him. You can’t earn it on your own. Isn’t that a relief? If we had to achieve righteousness by ourselves, we would be constantly exhausted trying to deserve it, but we would never achieve it. So, concerning keeping our health in balance, let's keep first things fist!
Now that we have the most important part of health taken care of, the rest of it is merely a checklist of the areas of health that we should look at, evaluate where we are, research what to change, and then implement the changes. Here’s the list in no particular order:
Spiritual health (we’ve already covered this one.)
Exercise and Stretching
Sleep and Rest
Alignment of your Spine and body
Nutrition and Supplements
Emotional Health and Stress Management
Fun and Recreation
Simple, right? Well, some of the changes are simple, but the truth of the matter is, it is a journey of change that takes time. I’ve been refining my health plan continually for my entire life, and I teach this stuff! Most of the basics are not going to change, but the details do. Get some good resources from the bookstore on health like Pastor Laura’s newly revised book, Fit for the King, and others. The only way to really change is one step at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed. Make what changes you can now, and make other changes as you can. Any positive change will improve your overall health. If you really want to get a head start, seek the counsel of a nutritionist, chiropractor, trainer, or other health professional who God put there to help you. If you believe it, you can achieve it!
In Health and in Him,
Dr. Mark Shannan