By Pastor William Y. K. Brown Ph.D
(Resident Pastor)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Osu-Bethel.
Tel: 0244165628/0243310773.
wykbrown@gmail.com
THURSDAY
THEME: EATING AND DRINKING TO THE GLORY OF GOD: PART II
SCRIPTURE: Daniel 1:8
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
REFLECTIONS
Lifestyle diseases are among the most challenging and expensive ailments to treat or manage. This compendium of diseases is mainly based on people’s choices– and significantly influenced by appetite. To have the appetite to eat is good, but to have one that makes you eat anything without paying attention to its effect on your health leaves little to be desired. For health, you must eat and drink to live and not merely live to eat and drink. Whatever choices you make about your appetite will yield results. It is a natural law of cause and effect. You will maintain life, energy, vigor, and health if you choose right. On the other hand, if wrong choices are made, the resultant effect will manifest sooner or later in life. Then, it will cause much pain, limitation to an active life, restrictions on what to eat and drink, and dependence on medications to survive – in brief, debilitating ill-health.
Christians must live healthy lives to glorify God. We represent God, and so must we demonstrate in our health. We dishonor God if our wrong choices cause us premature death or undue morbidity. The good news is that we can all make the right choices. You cannot survive without eating and drinking, but the counsel is to eat and drink to nourish your body than to maim or destroy it. Lifestyle diseases are Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – Cancers, and cardiovascular diseases (heart and blood vessel-related diseases).
According to the WHO Fact Sheets, “Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74% of all deaths worldwide. . . NCDs share five major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, and air pollution.” It continues to warn that “The epidemic of NCDs poses devastating health consequences for individuals, families, and communities, and threatens to overwhelm health systems.” Everyone admits that the prevention and control of NCDs is a big challenge in this century.
We have examples to encourage us to make choices about what to eat and drink. Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1) are great models for young people in this generation to emulate. They stand tall as young men who knew God from their early years, and that influenced their choice of food and drink. They were corrigible. They grasped and maintained the spiritual and life lessons they were taught from childhood. Therefore, in a foreign land, they were convinced of the presence of God with them. They could not be coerced to eat what they knew would diminish their health and vitality. They had a purpose in life – to honor God, and to achieve that, they were conscious about maintaining health through making the right choices about what to eat and drink.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; . . . that he might not defile himself.” Unfortunately, many forget themselves and break important health principles to compromise. Parents, you are responsible for training your wards to make the right choices regarding food and drink. From infancy, if you load them with sugar-laden, saturated fats, fizzy drinks, etc., they are likely to grow, making choices that will leave them sick in the future. You shape and train your children’s taste buds to like certain things. Dare to be a Daniel; let your purpose for life guide you. Whatever you do must be done to glorify God – that is life’s utmost object. You have the help of the Holy Spirit.
MY SONG OF COMMITMENT
“Dare to be a Daniel”
LET US PRAY
– Praise and thank God for knowledge; thank Him for the opportunity and the support to make the right choices and decisions; pray for wisdom to choose right and glorify God;
– Pray for young people in your area who are entangled by addictions; pray for people with chronic and lifestyle diseases; pray for families to choose healthy foods and drinks;
– Pray for pregnant women and lactating mothers; pray for children in school; pray for children with autism and their carers;
– Pray for innocent victims of war, displaced people, and those needing humanitarian support; pray for peace in the country; pray for good health for the citizens and sound health systems.
