Why Choose To Be Healthy?

(Still reviewing why we are making these choices)
*This is about physical health. But it is not a focus on your weight.

Your five year old has a specific bed time of 8 p.m. Company comes in town for a few days and your child does not get to bed until after 9 p.m. Sometimes it is almost 10. After a couple of days of less sleep, your sweet child has become Godzilla destroying anything and everything in his/her path. And you can forget about taking your child to church on Sunday mornings because they are so tired.

Have you been choosing not to be physically ready for day to day life and any challenges that come your way? Have you been choosing not to get the enough rest and therefore can be very irritable?

Physical Health Choice: Will I choose to exercise regularly so I will have the endurance for today and the next challenge? Will I choose to get the rest I need so I do not go Godzilla on my family and friends?

Are you thinking about telling me that you have tried? Admit it, you just did. Are you thinking of all your excuses why you haven't? I am a mother of four and the wife of a quadriplegic. Yes, I know there are times when you have to take care of a sick kid or a newborn. I have slept on a hospital cot for days at a time when my husband is in the hospital. I have been up all night with a friend who is facing a crisis. There are times when sleep in not an option. But because there will be times of illness and emergencies, you have to choose to take care of your physical health. It is something else we cannot "try" to do. We must and have to choose to exercise and get the rest we need so we will be ready to serve God and alert to trials and temptations.


So, how do you stop trying and choose to exercise and get the rest you need? It is a change of mind. Our only reason for exercise cannot be because we want to look better. Think about the show "The Biggest Loser." Every contestant is tired of the way they look, but most of them have another motivation. It is usually health and sometimes that they want to be healthier so they can be a better parent. As believers in Christ we also have another reason.

"You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
1 Corinthians 6:20

Whether you are 100lbs or 200lbs, you need exercise to be healthy, and you need to be healthy so you will have endurance for the race God has chosen for you. It may be endurance to raise your children. It may be endurance to travel to a nation in poverty. It may be endurance to teach and love a classroom of children. It may be endurance to care for a terminally ill family member. It may be endurance to work a demanding job and be a loving spouse. If we are not taking care of our physical health by exercising on a consistent basis, we are going to be like a high school football player on the first day of practice in 105 degree weather. We are going to have severe exhaustion because the pressure and heat wear us down too quickly.


Getting enough rest is another area we need to have a change of mind. We usually get too little sleep until we cannot go any longer and then we crash. But just like that three year old child's exhaustion affects you, your sleep deprivation affects others, too. You know that the more tired you are the less patient you become, the less productive you become, the less kindness you may show, the less likely you are to spend time with God. Your choice not to get enough rest leads into many more bad choices. And will those choices reflect...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22-23


In the last blog, we admitted that we must choose God; it is not option. We must choose to come before Him every day so we can face what comes our way and answer God when He calls. But if we choose to survive on little sleep, we lose focus and that could mean we lose focus of God. If we let our bodies become weak and fragile, our health could hinder us.


We must choose God. We must choose to exercise and get rest. Those couple of choices will start affecting so many more. You get a full night's sleep, you wake up refreshed and able to focus on God first thing. You go for a walk or run and use that time to focus on God, worship God or enjoy time with a loved one. And then you are refueled and re- energized both spiritually and physically. You are getting strength and endurance from God and your body will gain strength and endurance. Can you imagine how that will impact other choices and those around us? Do you realize the burden and stress that will be gone because you have given it to God and worked it out in your exercise. Are you getting the difference these choices can make? I know you want it. But don't say you will try, say I WILL CHOOSE.