Bible Readings for the Home

Chapter 173

Good Health

What important wish (prayer, margin) is expressed by the apostle concerning Gaius?
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 1:2.

Why is it necessary to preserve the body in health?
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. 12:1.

When one is truly sanctified, how much of him will be affected?
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. 5:23.

How did the apostle guard himself?
"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 1 Cor. 9:27.

Is it expedient to eat everything that it is lawful to eat?
"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." 1 Cor. 10:23.

Is God's glory to be considered even in one's eating?
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31.

What are our bodies said to be?
"What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1 Cor. 6:19.

What is the Christian's duty concerning his body in view of the fact that the Spirit of God has taken possession of it?
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 6:20.

What does the apostle say God will do to those who defile or mar this temple of His, the human body?
"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. 3:17.

Can the body be defiled with improper food or drink? 
"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank." Dan. 1:8.

What sort of food did Daniel desire?
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. 1:29.

What kind of flesh did the Lord afterward permit man to eat?
"Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat." Lev. 11:3.

By what term was this class of creatures distinguished from the other?
"Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female." Gen. 7:2.

Which one of these now commonly eaten was mentioned as being unfit even to touch?
"And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass." Deut. 14:8.

Why did the Lord thus restrict the Hebrews?
"For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing." Deut. 14:2, 3.
NOTE. - The swine is a scavenger. As such it is a creature full of disease and filth; and it is plain that the Lord does not want H is people, whose bodies are His, to be polluted with such loathsome diet.

What does the Lord say of those who are found eating swine's flesh and the like, when Christ comes?
"For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire... They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:15-17.
NOTE. - When the Lord comes, He is to change the living righteous, that their bodies may be like His glorious body. Phil. 3:21. This cannot well be done for those who have gross habits of diet. The condition of the body affects the mind, and one who lives grossly is more or less sensual in his thoughts. One cannot well be pure minded until he brings his body under (1 Cor. 9:27), and cultivates such habits as will be conducive to spiritual mindedness. One in poor health cannot glorify God as another whose physical powers are in full strength and consecrated to the divine service. It is, then, a moral duty to abstain from everything unhealthful, that all the powers of the being may be in the best possible condition.