I recently remarked to my husband that if I lived according to the soap boxes that my friends on Facebook trumpeted constantly, I'd have to live on a deserted island, eat like a caveman, never grow wheat, abstain from all forms of sugar, and personally fly in a birth photographer to capture my all natural birth(s) in the lagoon, of course-with no vaccines involved. If I hemorrhaged, well, darn, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. If I survived, the cupcake eases of childbirth, and my child inevitably got pneumonia or pink eye, I'd have to rub some oil on their forehead, sing calm words to them, and hope that they recovered without the evils of modern medicine. Whenever they had circles under their eyes, I'd assume they had found a gluten-tainted morsel, and if they ever had a headache, I'd tell them they were eating too much sugar.
I need to ask two things. First, even if you live by all these standards of purported "healthy" living, will you live to 120? And second, where is your faith in God in your life?
Do I mean that you should constantly live in a state of sugar bingeing, carbohydrate stuffing, and pill popping? Absolutely not. Instead I wonder, if we haven't mistakenly bought into the ideas of humanism that puts our future in our control instead of God's. We think that if we take personal control of our food and our bodies that we will somehow live better and longer. And you might, but is it worth the judgments that you make towards those who do not, and I have one more question, who holds your ultimate future?
The Bible makes clear mention that worrying will not add a foot to someone's stature. Will worrying bring 20 years to someone's life? Hardly. In fact, studies show that worrying has the opposite affect on a person's health. When you reach heavens gates, will God cross examine you on whether or not you ate paleo style and only bought non-GMO veggies? Hardly. What will God ask you? He will ask you how you treated others. Will God ask you if you had an epidural or if you had two Tylenol during birth? I don't think so. Instead, God will ask you how you helped your Christian brothers and sisters in their spiritual lives.
Why spend so much time trumpeting the philosophies and opinions of the world. Paul said that bodily exercise profits little. Did he mean that it was okay to be a giant slug who can't advance the Kingdom? No, he meant that there are more important things to invest your time in.
I believe that eating healthy has its advantages and that God would want us to take care of our bodies; I believe that God wants us to use sound judgment in the medical practice, but I also believe that the Creator of the universe holds my future in His hands and no matter what type of flour I use or medicinal remedy I pick, He ultimately is the one who holds the healing.
