The Role of Spirituality in Living a Healthy Lifestyle

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The Role of Spirituality in Living a Healthy Lifestyle

By Mark H. Anshel, Ph.D., Professor

Few communities follow a lifestyle of spirituality more strongly than Middle Tennesseeans, especially this holiday season that is a celebration of our faith. Researchers tell us that about 90% of Americans believe in God, and there is reason to believe that percentage is much higher in our community. There is a very strong attraction to living a life consistent with one’s values. Values form our most basic beliefs about what we consider important in life; they guide our behavior. Faith – and the belief in a higher spiritual power - is a very important value to most of us. Other values include family, health, integrity, generosity, and happiness. But what if someone suggested that you were not living a life consistent with your values, or that you fail to show your faith and devotion to God when you live a life full of gluttony and excess – in other words, not looking after your temple? How would you feel about that?

Why do so many of us in Middle Tennessee choose to life a lifestyle that is not consistent with our values? Why do we say, for example, that health is one of my most important values, yet, many of us are 20 or 30 pounds overweight, have high blood pressure, too much “bad” cholesterol, and lack energy for doing the things I enjoy, not allowing us to connect with the people we love?

Similarly, why do so many of us attend church or other religious institution, and yet we are not looking after our temple with which we have been blessed? To what extent do we make lifestyle choices that are not consistent with our values? Many of us express our devotion to God, either directly (in some religions), or through an intermediary, his Son, Jesus Christ (in other religions). Yet, according to scripture, our actions do not follow our words, beliefs, and attitudes.

“The biggest problem with excess weight is not whether God still loves you. He does, and so do other people. Nor is the biggest problem whether you look good in your clothes. The most important thing is whether you’re going to be incapacitated by fat-related diseases and die prematurely” (S. Omartian, “Greater Health God’s Way,” 1996, pp. 89-90)

Religious leaders claim that many of us confuse the feeling that “God is in control of my life and destiny” on one hand, and not taking responsibility for our lack of healthy habits. I discussed this apparent confusion with Rev. Brady Cooper, Senior Pastor at New Vision Baptist Church (Murfreesboro). Rev. Cooper preached one Sunday morning, “We have a tendency to do things in God's name that is contrary to God's nature.” Rev. Cooper feels that “spiritual complacency is a problem in our present society. God owns your body. He wants you to take care of it. Overeating is a spiritual problem. Your body was created by God, for God, to honor God.”

Here is a particular issue that concerns our religious leaders – and me, too. Some of us confuse the view that “God is in control,” so therefore we need not take responsibility for our own health and quality of life. Some of us stop feeling the need to control of our lifestyle – exhibit our free will. We want to show devotion to our family, be a productive member of society, help others, donate money to various charities and to our religious institution, and demonstrate competence in all that we do. We want to define ourselves as a person of good character, integrity, and honor. So the question must be asked: Why do we maintain habits that we know are unhealthy, and eventually lead to weight gain, low energy, premature disease, and even contradict scripture?

Rev. Cooper, among many other religious leaders, contend that many of us fail to take responsibility for living a life consistent with the free will to be in service to God. “God, through Jesus, gave us the ability to overcome our own weaknesses, our gluttony, our excesses, and our self-destructive nature,” he says. Leading a proper spiritual life means living a balanced life. Perhaps, then, what we do spiritually will determine our destiny, and living in the extremes, such as engaging in unhealthy habits such as overeating, is not living a spiritual life.

“The key to living a proper life is finding balance,” he says. He refers to scripture when describing the role of free will in maintaining healthy habits in serving God and acting to His good pleasure. “God works within us to will his holy spirit and the free will to have the desire to create balance in our life – and the will to act on that desire” (Philippians 2:13). “We are stewards – managers - of the temple and other gifts God has given us. We are held accountable to use His gifts wisely.”

Author of “The Healing Power of Faith,” Dr. Harold G. Koenig, M.D., asserts, “The world’s religions encourage healthy living…. All established religions discourage …any habit or activity harmful to the human body, which has traditionally been viewed as sacred, created in the image of God” (p. 72).

What Scripture Says About Living a Healthy Lifestyle. If you won’t listen to family members or your religious leader about improving your eating habits, exercising, losing weight, and abandoning unhealthy and risky behaviors, will you “listen” to God through scripture? Think about it because there is sufficient evidence that we are mandated by scripture to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This means living longer, showing our devotion and respect to a higher power by not abusing our temple, and maintaining the energy needed to observe religious customs and show our devotion to a higher power. Many of us attend our religious institution each week, yet live an unhealthy lifestyle that deprives us of the energy needed to serve the Lord.

Here is what scripture says about living a healthy lifestyle:

·  “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” I Corinthians 3:16-17

·  “Everything is permissible – but not everything is beneficial.” I Corinthians 10:23

·  “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminate body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” II Corinthians 7:1

·  “How much more so am I required to scrub and scour myself, having been created in the image and likeness of God, as it is written "For in the image of God He made human beings" (Genesis 9:6) Leviticus Rabbah 34:3

·  “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31

·  “The main reason to exercise is for your health. Without good health you cannot do all the Lord has for you do to and you cannot be all the Lord wants you to be.” (Omartian, “Greater Health God’s Way,” p. 117)

·  “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore honor God with your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” I Corinthians 6:19-20

·  “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” 3 John 2

·  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (I Corinthians 3:16

·  “It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one’s own honor. Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man (or woman) who lacks self-control” (Proverbs 25:27-28).

·  “The good man eats to live while the evil man lives to eat” (Proverbs 13:25).

·  “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” Proverbs 23: 20-21

The Role of Religious Institutions in Changing Unhealthy Habits

Should churches, synagogue, mosques, and other religious institutions attempt to influence health behaviors of members and persons who attend programs? Should religious leaders include messages from scripture about leading a healthy lifestyle to service attendees, perhaps as part of their sermon? A recent study (2007) published in the prestigious journal, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, examined if internet programs conducted in churches (in West Virginia) could improve the participants’ fitness level and dietary habits over 12 weeks. One group of churches used the internet program only, while a second group was also exposed to educational materials, messages from church staff, reminders in sermon content and other messages from the pulpit, and in church bulletins, all of which promoted the program. Results showed that the best changes in unhealthy habits occurred in churches that used the internet program in combination with the materials and messages, rather than the internet program without the church’s involvement. This study showed that churches that actively promote a healthy lifestyle are more likely to change health behaviors than having members attempt these changes on their own. Messages from church leaders do matter in improving exercise and dietary habits.

What about the religious leader’s role in promoting healthy habits? In three words, “it counts – a lot,” An article in the “Journal of Religion and Health” by Drs. Michael Kelly and Craig Huddy indicated that changing healthy habits is reinforced and permanent if the religious institution – church, mosque, synagogue - promotes the desirable behavior and a religious leader models the desired behavior. Are you pastors, priests, and rabbis ready to go jogging, now? Your members are watching! Based on a review of 147 studies, the researchers concluded that religion is a deterrent to drug and alcohol abuse. Addiction treatment programs are more effective and less expensive if tied to spiritually based self-help groups. Here’s my point: Churches and other religious programs can be primary sources of promoting community and member health and wellness.

What can religious institutions do to promote community wellness and health? Plenty, say Professors Chris Ellison and Jeffrey Levin in the journal, Health Education and Behavior, and Professors Michael Kelly and Craig Huddy, in the Journal of Religion and Health. Here are a few of their recommendations. Religious leaders can:

(a) quote scripture in their sermons recognizing the value of healthy habits from the old and new testaments;

(b) lead a healthy lifestyle and serve as models to their members and to the community;

(c) sponsor health and wellness programs that provide testing, fitness and nutrition coaching, and guidance for improving our lifestyle choices, perhaps a competition to see who can best improve their test scores on health-related measures;

(d) sponsor guest speakers who provide education, including messages from scripture, that remind us to express devotion to and observance of religious customs that promote healthy habits;

(e) work with resources in the community, such as recreational and fitness facilities and schools that can support church-based exercise programs;

(f) sponsor health clinics and other health and fitness festivities during the year to celebrate your religious devotion;

(g) provide selection of healthier food at church and religious events; and

(h) because it is so difficult for many individuals to change their habits without support, work jointly with mental health and medical professionals to address your church group or to be accessible for individual consultation in addressing the likely barriers in reaching health-related goals.

What can you do? Love your family and live a life consistent with your values – what you consider most sacred and important. Make it a family mission to change the lives of those you love – and who love you. Remaining healthy is not only about you. Good health is also about being available for the people who love you and are depending on you for their happiness.

Rev. Cooper asks, “What can we do to live a healthy lifestyle to better serve God?” He recommends that we not lose sight of our goals, and to actively deal with the spoiled child living inside us that prefers gluttony to living a balanced life. “Use your energy – which you get from proper living – to fulfill God’s wishes by taking care of yourself,” he says. “And remember your family. I don’t want to be a burden to my family as I grow older.” Rev. Cooper is quoted from one of his sermons: “You won’t run out of excuses for not taking better care of yourself, but you will run out of time. And others will resent you for it.”

Perhaps the take-away message of this column is that we are held accountable for the consequences of not making the right lifestyle choices, and that’s why God gave us free will. To use one anonymous quote, “Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you are unwilling to move your feet.”