Being a Good Steward (part 3)

This week I’ve been blogging about what it means to be a good steward. God has entrusted all of us with responsibilities in this life, and He desires for us to make wise choices when it comes to them. For example, we need to be good stewards of our finances by first finding contentment in Christ, then guarding our hearts from the love of money, and being mindful that we are not making money our idol. 1 Timothy 6:6 reassures us that “godliness with contentment is great gain,” and 1 Timothy 6:10 warns us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” We need to remember these thing’s, as well as the words of Jesus who said, “You cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24).” Another example of stewardship comes from how we use our time. We need to be good stewards of our time and make sure that we are actually bearing fruit in our lives, as opposed to just being busy. We also need to set healthy boundaries, in order to manage our time wisely so that we can take care of ourselves and our loved ones.

When I wrote about what it means to be a good steward of our time, I included that all of us need to take time for ourselves. If we don’t take care of ourselves, then how can we effectively pour in to the lives of others? Our health is something that God has made us stewards of, and we need to make wise choices in this area. First of all, our bodies are the temple of the living God! His Holy Spirit lives within us and what we choose to do with our bodies say’s a lot about how we feel about the Lord. “God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:17).” What are you doing to care for God’s temple or what are you doing to destroy God’s temple? Are there habits or addictions in your life that you need to let go of? Are you making alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, or anything else an idol by using it as your source of comfort? God wants to heal you of your addictions and habits, and He can if you have faith and trust in Him! The New Testament is full of beautiful stories of Jesus’ healing power. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).” He can heal you right now like He healed so many while He was living on this earth. You can have someone lay hands on you, and the healing power of Jesus can flow through them and heal you, but also realize that you can go straight to the Lord and ask Him to heal you. If you believe it by faith, then you will be healed! Our God is an awesome and mighty God, and He is worthy to be praised! Isaiah 53:5 says that it is by Jesus’ wounds that “we are healed.” If you want to be a good steward of your health, then take the steps necessary to move in that direction by letting go of destructive habits or addictions, increasing your faith, trusting in God, and leaning on Him to help you overcome the strongholds that are affecting your health.

When I was younger, my relationship with the Lord was on again, off again. I spent the majority of my life in rebellion and disobedience, and I lived a sinful lifestyle. A few years ago, God drew me to Him with His loving kindness (Jeremiah 31:3), He baptized me in His Holy Spirit, and He changed my life completely. At that time, there were so many areas in my life that God had to help me work on, and He is helping me work on so many areas still today. One of the areas God dealt with me about when I got saved was the area of my health. He began to show me the importance of taking care of my body, and it wasn’t just about eating well and exercising. I had an addiction to cigarettes, and I desperately wanted to quit. I had tried to quit so many times, and after I got saved, I managed to quit for six months. My victory of smoking was short lived, though, as I started back up again due to the pressure of life. I attempted quitting several times after that, but I wasn’t truly able to kick the habit until about a year and a half ago. I’ll never forget waking up one morning around the time that I quit smoking. The Holy Spirit showed my spirit that when I did things in my body, He was partaking of these things too, and God is a Holy God. Other than the fact that smoking is the worst thing anyone can do for their body, Jesus deserves better than that, and we should also be a better witness to other believers and non-believers. I am not condemning anyone who smokes by any means. I know how hard it is to quit, and there are times when I feel tempted to light up, when the pressures of this world overwhelm me. God knows that we will struggle with our flesh, and He knows that we can’t do it alone. He wants to be our source of strength. All we have to do is confide in Him and trust Him to help us pull through times of temptation. Just remember that our “flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:6).” “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16).”

We can be good stewards of our health by allowing God to deal with us when it comes to our habits and addictions, but we also need to be mindful of other important aspects of our health. If we want to be healthy, then we need to make sure that we eat well and exercise. American culture has the worst, most unhealthy diet in the world, and the fact that we usually get what we want when we want it has made many of us lazy. Our foods are processed, high in fat, drenched in salt, deep fried, and toxic. Our country has become a nation obsessed with fast food, and so many of us are paying the price. We need to consider what we are putting in our mouths and in our bodies, if we want to be healthy and live a long, quality life. We owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to the ones we love. If you’re eating unhealthy and not exercising, then you will have health problems if not now, then down the road. Eating unhealthy food will cause obesity and obesity can shorten your life span by twenty years, and cause many health complications like high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol, heart attack, poor circulation, shortness of breath, and so on. Don’t assume, however, that if you are thin, then you are safe from any of these health problems. Even if you are thin and you eat unhealthy, you are damaging your health, and you still have the potential for health problems. I don’t think that Christian’s should be vain or obsess over their weight or their diet. Some people are underweight, which is also not healthy and can cause problems. The message I am trying to send is that all of us need to find out what a healthy weight is for our body type, maintain it, eat well, and exercise. The bottom line is that we need to take care of our bodies. We need to take care of God’s temple. There is nothing wrong with indulging in certain foods from time to time. However, we should maintain a healthy lifestyle, if we want to be good stewards of our health.

Taking care of our health goes far beyond the physical. We need to ensure that we are healthy mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, as well. Life can be difficult and challenging, and if we don’t take care of our mind, emotions, and especially our spirit, then we will end up on a path to destruction. All of us have baggage from our past that we are working through. If we’re not dealing with issues that have come from being raised in a dysfunctional family or broken home, then many of us are dealing with issues that come from our past (addictions, relationships, abuse, a previous life of sin). All of us are imperfect and flawed, and the good news is that God loves us anyway! Jesus suffered and died for us, in order that our sins would be forgiven (past, present and future), and so that we would have fellowship with God and eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).” There is absolutely nothing that you have done that God will not forgive, and there is nothing that you have walked through or that you are currently walking through that Jesus doesn’t understand. Isaiah 53:3-4 says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.” I think about the mental anguish that Jesus encountered in the garden, and I am amazed. Jesus knows what it means to suffer. He has been there, and He understands. Turn to God for comfort during your trials and tribulations. Talk to the Lord about what you’re facing and cry out to Him. Make time for Him, pray and read His Word. Hide His Word in your heart. Also know that there is help available to you. Many churches provide free counseling and classes that will help you deal with whatever is going on in your mind, emotions or spirit. You may need to consider meeting with a therapist, confiding in a trustworthy friend, or researching natural remedies, in order to live a healthy life. Whatever you are going through, don’t give up! God loves you, and He will help you find a way through your pain.

Letting go of addiction’s and bad habits, eating well, exercising, and taking care of our mental, emotional and spiritual health is important. God has made us stewards over our health, and what we do with our health is our responsibility. It’s not always easy to make healthy choices in our lives and sometimes we will fail, but all of life is a learning experience and our failures can be life lessons and teachers to help us make better choices.