Who I am can be understood by observing me and giving me an opportunity to reveal my character and habits in various situations. What I call myself may differ from who I really am. And this difference is called hypocrisy or double-mindedness. Unfortunately, our Christian society has such a problem. It is very sad if I prove to be a hypocritical person. But the Lord brings me to the realization that I am an actor. He desires to make me either an honest sinner or a true Christian. I think you would be surprised if you learned that I do not live as I write. And someone would rejoice at this discovery in order to justify his own ignorance.
But you should look not at me, but at Christ, Who chooses insignificant and weak things in order to carry out His plans and accomplish His purposes.
I am learning together with you, and in doing so I have the right to make a mistake, but not to cherish vice. And if some sin is still lurking in my heart, carefully concealed there, the Lord knows under what circumstances it can be exposed and removed from my life forever.
We are called to be godly people whose thoughts, feelings, and actions are in harmony with biblical principles in every aspect of personal and social life. In order to allow the Holy Spirit to recreate in us the character of our Lord, we strive only for what can produce Christian purity, health, and joy in our lives. This means that our pleasures and entertainment must meet the high standards of Christian taste and beauty.
Happiness rests upon this foundation of my faith and does not contradict whatever is true, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
My appearance should be appropriate to the place, work, culture, time, modesty, and God’s standards of holiness.
My food should benefit me and build up my body rather than destroy it, while being sanctified by the Word of God and conforming to biblical purity and principles. Everything that enters my body must not defile me, deprive me of sound judgment, intoxicate my mind, lead me into a state of sinful pleasure, or destroy my body.
My physical and spiritual activity should be under the influence of the Holy Spirit and strengthen my faith in God as well as my mental and physical health. It should be in harmony with God’s requirements and expectations. God watches very carefully what I feed my body and mind and how this can be combined with the science of love. Upon this is laid the foundation of our personal relationship with Jesus.
The photographs I post publicly on social media can tell you a great deal about me and my views on life. If I preach to you about the higher culture of spiritual principles, while my photo album testifies to other values and does not correspond to what I call you to, then all my influence is reduced to nothing. God is dishonored in my life. And even if I once was a bad person, I should not continually tell everyone about it by putting it on public display. The enemy will certainly turn such facts against God and against His influence through me.
For example, I served in the military and know how an assault rifle works. And if I publish a photograph of myself embracing that rifle, even if it was taken in the distant past, many of you will have a great many questions and objections concerning me. And it will be difficult for me to prove that I am different now. I never speak about my sinful adventures and ‘exploits,’ except when, in a personal conversation, I can share some fragment of my former life in order to win for Christ someone who is perishing and blind. But God gives me new experiences of a pure life, and He casts my old sins into the depths in order to drown them there forever and, in time, erase them from my memory.
I am not called by God to live for myself and do whatever I consider right. The Lord has brought me into His Church, where there are the strong and the weak, those who believe and those whose faith is weak, those in need and those who are content. I must take their expectations into account and allow God to fit us together like living stones in His building. We were created for one another and gathered by God in order to learn to serve others, at times forgetting about ourselves.
But my conduct does not save me; rather, it reveals how closely I am connected each day with the One Who accomplished and continues to accomplish my salvation.
God has the power to heal every infirmity, but He gives me knowledge of how to avoid illness and what is necessary to keep my body and mind pure and in perfect health. What benefit would there be if God continually healed me but left the cause of the illness? I would become sick again.
For example, to prevent a hangover headache, one should drink Coca-Cola upon awakening. Or perhaps it would be better simply to advise a person not to drink alcohol? Then there would be no headache.
What does a person want to know when he becomes ill? How to be healed. He goes to a doctor with this question and waits for the ‘magic’ pills that his body supposedly lacks in order to overcome the illness. But a wise doctor determines the cause of the illness and advises the person to change his way of life and thinking; then the problems will go away. And silver pays for everything.
The laws of health are just as wise and holy as God’s commandments. They do not contradict one another but complement each other, harmoniously adorning my modest Christian life.
Fresh air, pure water, sunlight, proper nutrition, abstinence and moderation, physical exercise, rest, faith, and trust in God—all these are given to me freely as means that support my health and keep my soul, spirit, and body in proper condition. They are the most accessible and simple means of sustaining my life. Their wise use lies at the foundation of my happiness, and if even one of them is violated or removed, illness will not be long in coming. It will certainly come to destroy what belongs to God.
Health is a blessing, and my happiness is closely connected with it. But health cannot be the foundation of happiness upon which I build my little house. Otherwise, any illness will destroy everything very quickly. Yet I need health, and it is worth fighting for against my flesh, which does not respect these principles and desires what is contrary to the spirit. My flesh also desires and seeks happiness, but it seeks happiness that is immediate and magnificent, no matter by what means, as long as it is obtained here and now. And this ruins and destroys the true foundation, bringing emptiness and weariness of spirit.
Movies, radio, and television are forms of mass media that can very quickly shape the thinking and culture of society. And the building of my happiness depends upon the extent to which I allow these means to influence me and impose values upon me that are foreign to God. The internet includes all of this and adds many other temptations. But online I can choose what is beneficial to me. Mass media, however, impose upon me what they consider right and necessary. It is worth exercising temperance and wisdom in our contact with these features of our time. For there is no happiness in them, but the breath of death is present.
Love teaches me simplicity, wisdom, modesty, contentment, purity, high morality, practicality, economy, and health. Love is an adornment in itself.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Genesis 7:2; Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 11:1–47; Psalm 106:3; Romans 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; 10:31; 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1; 10:5; Ephesians 5:1–21; Philippians 2:4; 4:8; 1 Timothy 2:9–10; Titus 2:11–12; 1 Peter 3:1–4; 1 John 2:6; and 3 John 2 in the light of this chapter. What did you understand from this chapter? What does a Christian’s conduct testify to? If a person decides to become deeply religious, will this desire be reflected outwardly in a visible way? ‘I believe in my heart’—how often do you hear such statements from different people who listen to your appeals for positive change? What from this chapter can be laid in the foundation of happiness or used as building material? Is health given to us as a pledge and guarantee of salvation, as a sign that we belong to God? Is it necessary to be healthy in the last days? Can sick people be happy? Can I build my happiness upon mass media by finding in them things that are useful and joyful for my soul? Is temperance a restriction of my freedom and a dictatorship of goodness? If being happy is so difficult, is it worth fighting for? Does God truly take pleasure in watching me struggle against the influence of the world and desire with my last strength to resist its temptations?