I’ve long struggled over this question, does God care about my health, not because I didn’t want to believe it, but its action felt petty. Of course, I always prayed over life-altering situations without batting an eye. That surgery, always. The illness, through the end.
But everyday health, I tucked in my back pocket, not to bother God with those kinds of silly worries. If I’m honest, I was still questioning if health was selfish in the first place, so I certainly wasn’t about to bring it up with God.
Perhaps, you don’t have such big conversations in your head or even ponder if God cares about your health, of course, unless it’s life-altering, and then he does. But in the everyday mundane, this entire conversation may seem silly.
But if you’re like me, struggling through the difference between self-love and self-idol and where God’s love fits into the picture, this may help. Answering the question, does God even care?
Does God care about my health?
As I said, it may seem silly to ponder a thought as if God cares about your health. Perhaps, even selfish. But you know if prayers changed our weight, we’d be a people living on our hands and knees. Yet, I believe God cares about our health – he says he does. Making this conversation matter for more than just our health but our life.
Let me explain.
God wants all of you. He especially wants your soul, but he truly wants every ounce of your being. A full commitment of who you are, not just a few hours on Sunday morning or that prayer before bed.
Unfortunately, this is a hard concept to grasp as we live in a world that finds comfort in segmenting life. Or at least a sense of control that provides a false sense of comfort that we get from boxing our life into time-blocks or activities.
The boxes of life
We have the God box, our mind box, our health box, our work box, our family box, and who knows what other boxes you’re trying to juggle. We have a lot of boxes, things that we focus on that take time and many of which seem rather insignificant when held next to God.
But the problem with segmenting our life is not just putting God in a box, but you quickly become entangled into being the god of all the other boxes. Surrendering only what fits into the God box to God and the rest is up to you to manage—leaving a lot of boxes that demand your time and your attention.
But it’s this segmentation that we’ve created that has muddied the water, leaving us to ask such a question as, does God care about my health? It’s the segmentation that has put God in a box and health in a separate box that we don’t even notice God outside of a nightly prayer or a few hours on Sunday morning.
We fail to see him in all things, including our health because we’ve narrowed down where we think God will show up and what we believe He cares about.
But the truth is, God wants all of it. Every ounce of your being, not just your soul.
God cares about your body
And he cares about your body because He created it. He fashioned it perfectly for health. Not to live for health or make health a god of its own – but to use that to live out the purpose He has for you.
It’s coming to this place of complete surrendering that begins by recognizing that God is not a segmented box in your life, but he’s a fiber. The strongest fiber that is interwoven into everything about your life. He is not a God of external things, but He is a personal God who resides within you.
And if God is in you, then, of course, he cares about your health.
God doesn’t want to be in a box. And those boxes you’ve created really have no merit in life. All things are working together. Which means there is no separation between health and work, God and health, family and God. Again, all things are working together.
Of course, the boxing off of things provides a sense of control, even if it is a false one but the boxing off also boxes off your life. It is stripping you of the freedom that God wants you to experience.
So maybe it’s time to throw away the boxes. To look not at what you can control but surrender to the one who is in control. To allow God to flood every cell of your being so, you can live transformed.
He wants health for you, and He wants to be a part of it. We have to see him in all things and surrender all things to him. Letting God and God alone be God.
Here are a few points to remind you, He cares for your physical body:
1. Our body is a vessel of the Spirit on Earth
Your Body is a holy temple that God resides within. God is not some external box controlling your life like strings on a puppet. He’s alive and active within you, and he formed you perfectly in your mother’s womb for a time such as this.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
” 1 corinthians 6:19-20
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful., I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:13-14
While God did not define health, He did show us that we were knit together perfectly, and in that, we can rest knowing that God is for our bodies and our health.
Remember, health is an action, not a look or a standard of beauty.
2. He wants your health to be used for His Glory
God wants your freedom. He does not desire you to be enslaved to anything. And he certainly does not want you to be a slave to your health – living for health to bring you what it was never designed to bring.
Health was designed as a tool to provide energy to live your purpose. A body designed to bring Him glory. But in that, you should care about your health without being a slave to it.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10
3. More energy to live out the call
God is energy. He is the ultimate source of filling. As God says, He is the transformer of our lives, hearts, and minds that equip us to the necessary action. He gives us power in our weakness and help in time of need.
He is our ultimate source of life and he is the very means to fill you with the energy to live your life.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
Psalms 107:8-9
4. Know who God says you are
Most likely, there is a drastic difference between who you say you are and who God says you are. Who we listen to and what we live out of determines our actions.
I wonder, what would change if you stopped fixating on your own words and started to meditate on who God says you are? Here are just a few of many things God calls you:
- You are a child of God.
- He calls you his friend.
- You have been set free.
- You are accepted by Christ.
- He has called you.
- Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.
- You have been set free.
- You are chosen, holy and blameless before God.
- God supplies all of your needs.
- You have been made complete in Christ.
- You am holy and beloved.
- God loves you and has chosen you.
God cares about your health
Because God cares about you!
If you believe God is who He says and you believe what He says about you – you will desire taking care of your body.
Of course, I can’t leave without repeating what John Piper states, “God cares about your eternity 10 million times more than your health—seeking everlasting health over earthly health.”
But that also doesn’t mean you should neglect it or fail to give your health struggles as petty as they seem over to him. He delights in us, and He wants you to invite him into every aspect of your life. To see God as an active part of your health rather than being ruled by the idol of health.
God is for you, and He loves you.
Let this be a reminder that in Him you are made perfect, and in Him you have the power to live transformed.
There’s no easy answer to the question of whether or not *** cares about our health. On one hand, it’s hard to imagine that a loving God would allow His children to suffer from preventable illnesses and diseases. On the other hand, many people believe that suffering can be a part of God’s plan for our lives, helping us to grow in faith and become more compassionate people. Ultimately, each of us will have to decide for ourselves what we believe about this important question. Great Article