Jesus and a Healthy Lifestyle
“Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself.” And Jesus said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this and you will live.”
It is a long walk home. The road is dusty and the sun is hot. But there are more important matters. He hears the musical call of birds gliding overhead and the captivating rhythm of his sandals flapping against callused feet. The land around his pathway glows with a refreshing emerald green. Life-giving winter rains have resurrected a land parched from long days of intense Middle-eastern heat. Jesus doesn’t think of this as exercise, these long walks he makes over the countryside. This is simply the lifestyle of his time and place.
I imagine Jesus tending a garden, too, digging his hands into the rich dirt of the Galilee soil. I see him covered in sawdust from a newly crafted table created for a family down the street. There would have been much time for study and prayer, I’m sure, but not at the expense of physical labor and recreation. Likely, too, he joined neighborhood friends in fun and competitive games as a boy and young man. I see him covered in sweat, physically exhausted, arm around a buddy, smiling with a word of encouragement and a slap on the back: “Good game. Thanks for playing!”
Today, we would call this a “healthy lifestyle:” physical labor, aerobic exercise, worship, meditation, study, deep appreciation of beauty, consistent interaction with nature, and appropriate recreation with friendly competition. Jesus also would have enjoyed a high fiber diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and fish, with very little red meat and virtually no fat or cholesterol.
This is not some fad for losing weight. This is the way Jesus lived. In fact, this is the lifestyle the Bible assumes all people of that day lived. But times have changed. Labor-saving devices and the plentiful resources of the modern world avail us with far more choices of food, how we spend our time, and modes of transportation than at any other point in history.
This array of possibilities is a real gift unless we allow ourselves to be seduced by the avoidance of exercise, the lack of interaction with God’s world, and the consumption of less-than-healthy foods.
There is an intimate connection between how we feel physically and how we feel emotionally and spiritually. How we eat, exercise, work, and play has a significant bearing on how and even if we pray and discipline our spiritual selves. And certainly our physical wellbeing, or lack of it, profoundly affects our outlook on life and the way we treat one another.
The Bible reminds us consistently that these all go together. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself.” It takes a whole person utilizing every aspect of ourselves truly to enjoy the kind of existence the Bible advocates and that our Lord expects.
Therefore, may our call to healthy faith include also attentiveness to lifestyle, attention to wellness and intentional discipline in every aspect of our walk with God.
TEACH ME, LORD
Lord, I want to pray
With humility and love
With pure motives and compassion
With sensitivity and forgiveness
With substance and depth.
But Lord, my body is so weak
My mind is too distracted
My heart is unforgiving
My understanding shallow
And the needs are just too great.
So I wait another day.
Lord, please teach me to pray.
— David Jordan
David Jordan
Senior Pastor