Living In The Light

June 24, A Duty To Preserve Health

I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life.
—Psalms 119:93 LL 186.1

The health reform is an important part of the third angel’s message; and as a people professing this reform, we should not retrograde, but make continual advancement. It is a great thing to insure health by placing ourselves in right relations to the laws of life, and many have not done this. A large share of the sickness and suffering among us is the result of the transgression of physical law, is brought upon individuals by their own wrong habits. LL 186.2

Our ancestors have bequeathed to us customs and appetites which are filling the world with disease. The sins of the parents, through perverted appetite, are with fearful power visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations. . . . Intemperance in drinking tea and coffee, wine, beer, rum, and brandy, and the use of tobacco, opium, and other narcotics, has resulted in great mental and physical degeneracy, and this degeneracy is constantly increasing. . . . LL 186.3

We have no right to wantonly violate a single principle of the laws of health. Christians should not follow the customs and practices of the world. The history of Daniel is placed upon record for our benefit. He chose to take a course that would make him singular in the king’s court. He did not conform to the habits of courtiers in eating and drinking, but purposed in his heart that he would not eat of the king’s meat nor drink of his wines. This was not a hastily-formed, wavering purpose, but one that was intelligently formed and resolutely carried out. Daniel honored God; and the promise was fulfilled to him, “Them that honor Me, I will honor.” The Lord gave him “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom,” and he “had understanding in all visions and dreams;” so that he was wiser than all in the king’s courts, wiser than all the astrologers and magicians in the kingdom. LL 186.4

Those who serve God in sincerity and truth will be a peculiar people, unlike the world, separate from the world. Their food will be prepared, not to encourage gluttony or gratify a perverted taste, but to secure to themselves the greatest physical strength, and consequently the best mental condition.— Review and Herald, July 29, 1884. LL 186.5

Further Reflection: Is taking care of your health a moral issue for you? What are the spiritual implications of making decisions that benefit your health and well-being, or of failing to take your health seriously? LL 186.6