How Does Sin Affect Your Health?

Introduction

Health and wellness are both fascinating topics to me. My parents ate using the Sugar Busters diet for a number of years, and I eventually started eating the same way during college (with occasional occurrences of ice cream and frozen pizza). Well into their 60s, my parents still both lift weights a few times a week and walk on a regular basis. My sister eats more fruits and veggies than anymore I’ve ever met and stays fit by doing a lot of yoga and indoor climbing. And that’s just my family! Outside of my family, health and wellness are popular topics with books, websites, companies, and entire industries dedicated to both.

If you look closely at my categories, you’ll notice I dedicate a fair number of posts to ‘mental health and wellness,’ too (including this post!). This category covers a whole slue of topics, including anxiety, depression, weight loss, and exercise. At this point in time, I’m most fascinated by all the ideas finding their way around the internet about how best to lose weight. I have friends who have had impressive results using FASTer Way to Fat Loss, ItWorks!, Trim, Healthy Mama, Whole30, and the Keto diet. I enjoy reading about each of these different methods, especially the science behind each one. The human body fascinates me to no end. God created such a wonderful, intricate network of systems to reflect his glory in us human beings. How we treat this beautiful collection of systems matters to God, and for that reason health and wellness is a topic worth exploring.

However, every time I read an advertisement, article, or information from a friend about one of these diets and the exercise regiments that often go along with them, one thought pings through my mind over and over again, which incidentally is never included in information about these diets: sin affects our health. These diet plans won’t work for everyone because while we’re all created in God’s image, we still differ in how we use our bodies. Some of us struggle with different sins in relation to our bodies and not everyone can even exercise due to health restrictions. We also live in an imperfect world where things go wrong despite our best efforts–that “already, but not yet” state where we know that we are redeemed by Jesus, but sin still lurks around us and in each of us. Do we need to feel guilty about not following a certain diet? No, but we do need to honor with God our bodies. The gospel has huge implications for those of us who desire to live a healthy life, mentally and physically, for God’s glory.

With these truths in mind, how does sin affect our health, and how can we honor God with our bodies despite the affect of sin on our health?

How Does Sin Affect Our Health?

First, sin affects our health in a very personal way. Sometimes we don’t take care of our bodies in a way that honors God. We overeat or we eat too little. We exercise until our bodies can’t sustain the amount of physical work we force out of them, or we sit in the couch all day eating salty snacks. We fail to consider that the gospel applies to every area of our lives, which includes how we treat our bodies. Jesus came to redeem us from sins like overeating and overworking ourselves. We can find rest in Christ as we look to him for self-discipline and peace.

We cannot completely separate our spiritual health from our physical health, either. If we don’t get enough sleep at night, we’ll probably be cranky the next day, which means we’ll be more likely to snap at our children or berate our husbands over something inconsequential. Eating large amounts of sugar at once gives us energy in the short-term, but causes us to feel irritable and anxious in the long-term as our bodies crash. Getting enough sleep most of the time, eating in a way that sustains our overall health, and, if we can, keeping our bodies physically active means our minds will be more focused and alert as we study God’s Word and interact with our neighbors.

Second, sin causes our bodies not to work the way God intended. In a perfect world, our bodies would run indefinitely with efficiency and beauty. Sin corrupted the way our bodies work, so we end up dealing with unpleasant things like auto immune disorders, tinnitus, and back pain (I know this all too well). Some of us experience bodily suffering from the day we’re born, while others develop symptoms over time. Even those who care meticulously for their bodies still find that sometimes their bodies don’t work the way they should and they age just like everyone else’s. We can exercise in certain ways or avoid certain foods to help alleviate pain. We can take medicine or fill our homes with essential oils to treat disease. But no matter what we do, our bodies won’t be completely healed until Jesus returns and makes everything new. Our hope is in Christ, a steadfast anchor in the depths of a chaotic, broken world.

How Can We Honor God with Our Bodies?

We can honor God with our bodies by understanding what God says about our bodies and how his words apply to our lives. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” This is perhaps the most well-known and often-quoted Bible verse about taking care of our bodies, and tells us some important things about our bodies. First, the Holy Spirit dwells within us–our bodies are his temple. The Holy Spirit is from God. Second, our bodies are not our own. Jesus bought them and redeemed them when he died for us on the cross. Third, Paul commands us to glorify God in our bodies.

So, we honor God with our bodies when we use our bodies to glorify him. When we glorify God, we cause others to turn to him in reverent awe and worship for his wonderful deeds and perfect character. We bring God glory with our bodies when we practice self-discipline, enjoy the good gifts God gives us, and do all things in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul lists self-discipline as one of the fruits of the Spirit. [1] This is something we must grow in as we grow in faith. As we practice self-discipline, we can still enjoy all the good foods that God gives us to eat, in moderation, and with thankfulness and love for our neighbors. [2] Finally, I really do enjoy reading about all the different diet and exercise programs available to follow, so please keep sharing, but do so in the name of Jesus Christ. Explain how losing weight and having more energy helps you serve the Lord, your family, and your community better. Tell us how practicing self-discipline helped you learn to love God more. We honor God with our bodies when we bring them into submission to his good, pleasing, and perfect will for our lives, which includes sharing the gospel. [3]

We can also honor God with our bodies by listening to them. If you feel tired, take a nap. If you feel full, stop eating. If you’re working out and your leg starts screaming in pain, take a short break and evaluate what’s going on. If you find yourself consistently angry or sad, talk to God about these emotions and then a trusted friend instead of hiding them away. Even though our bodies don’t work perfectly in this broken world, we can still interpret and use the signals they send us. God designed our bodies to work together with our hearts and our minds. I know–this is so much easier said than done! Learning how to listen to your body takes practice. You can start today, at this very moment in time, by trying to figure out what your body is telling you now and how you can respond in a way that honors God.

Conclusion

I’d like to close this article with 1 Timothy 4:8, “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Health and wellness, diet and exercise, weight loss, and trying to stay as healthy as possible do have some value. We can use these tools to better serve our Lord and Savior as we do what he calls us to do and as we look forward to eternity when our bodies will be made glorious again. Our health will never be perfect in this life, but we can place our trust in the one who is!

[1] Galatians 5:22-23
[2] 1 Timothy 4:4, Romans 14
[3] 1 Corinthians 9:27