Daily Devotional

July 4, 2017

Effect Follows Cause, Producing Health or Disease

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:33, NKJV.

Adam and Eve in Eden were noble in stature, and perfect in symmetry and beauty. They were sinless, and in perfect health. What a contrast to the human race now! Beauty is gone. Perfect health is not known. Everywhere we look we see disease, deformity, and imbecility….

Since the fall, intemperance in almost every form has existed. The appetite has controlled reason. The human family have followed in a course of disobedience and, like Eve, have been beguiled by Satan to disregard the prohibitions God has made, flattering themselves that the consequence would not be as fearful as had been apprehended. The human family have violated the laws of health, and have run to excess in almost everything. Disease has been steadily increasing. The cause has been followed by the effect.

God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in the garden was the food their wants required. God gave no one permission to eat animal food until after the Flood….

Many marvel that the human race has so degenerated, physically, mentally, and morally. They do not understand that it is the violation of God’s constitution and laws and the violation of the laws of health that have produced this sad degeneracy. The transgression of God’s commandments has caused His prospering hand to be removed. Intemperance in eating and in drinking, and the indulgence of base passions, have benumbed the fine sensibilities, so that sacred things have been placed upon a level with common things….

Many have expected that God would keep them from sickness merely because they have asked Him to do so. But God did not regard their prayers, because their faith was not made perfect by works. God will not work a miracle to keep those from sickness who have no care for themselves, but are continually violating the laws of health, and make no effort to prevent disease…. God will not work in a miraculous manner to preserve the health of persons who are taking a sure course to make themselves sick, by their careless inattention to the laws of health. – The Review and Herald, April 2, 1914.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 312.

Daily Devotional

July 3, 2017

Follow Divine Counsel to Preserve Health

So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself.” Exodus 18:17, 18, NKJV.

When we do all we can on our part to have health, then may we expect that the blessed results will follow, and we can ask God in faith to bless our efforts for the preservation of health. He will then answer our prayer, if His name can be glorified thereby. But let all understand that they have a work to do. God will not work in a miraculous manner to preserve the health of persons who are taking a sure course to make themselves sick. – Counsels on Diet and Foods, 26.

A careful conformity to the laws God has implanted in our being will ensure health, and there will not be a breaking down of the constitution. – Counsels on Diet and Foods, 20.

Many have inquired of me, What course shall I take best to preserve my health? My answer is Cease to transgress the laws of your being; cease to gratify a depraved appetite, eat simple food, dress healthfully, which will require modest simplicity, work healthfully, and you will not be sick…. Many are suffering in consequence of the transgression of their parents. They cannot be censured for their parents’ sin; but it is nevertheless their duty to ascertain wherein their parents violated the laws of their being …; and wherein their parents’ habits were wrong, they should change their own course, and place themselves, by correct habits, in a better relation to health. – The Health Reformer, August 1866.

The harmonious, healthy action of all the powers of body and mind results in happiness; the more elevated and refined the powers, the more pure and unalloyed the happiness. An aimless life is a living death. The mind should dwell upon themes relating to our eternal interests. This will be conducive to health of body and mind. – The Review and Herald, July 29, 1884.

God has pledged Himself to keep this living machinery in healthful action if the human agent will obey His laws and cooperate with God. – Counsels on Diet and Foods, 17.

The Lord has given His people a message in regard to health reform. This light has been shining upon their pathway for [many] years; and the Lord cannot sustain His servants in a course which will counteract it….The light which God has given upon health reform cannot be trifled with without injury to those who attempt it; and no human being can hope to succeed in the work of God while, by precept and example, they act in opposition to the light which God has sent. – Counsels on Diet and Foods, 38.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 311.

Daily Devotional

July 1, 2017

Obey Nature’s Laws to Enjoy Health

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12, NKJV.

There is not one in a thousand, married or unmarried, who realizes the importance of purity of habits, in preserving cleanliness of the body and purity of thought. Sickness and disease is the sure consequence of disobedience to nature’s laws, and neglect of the laws of life and health. It is the house in which we live that we need to preserve, that it may do honor to God, who has redeemed us. We need to know how to preserve the living machinery, that our soul, body, and spirit may be consecrated to His service.

As rational beings we are deplorably ignorant of the body and its requirements. While the schools we have established have taken up the study of physiology, they have not taken hold of the matter with that decided energy which they should. They have not practiced intelligently that which they have received in knowledge. And they do not realize that unless it is practiced, the body will decay.

Notwithstanding all the light shining forth from the Scriptures on this subject; notwithstanding the lessons given in the history of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; notwithstanding the result of plain healthful diet, there is little regard for the lessons penned by those inspired of God. The dietetic habits of the people generally are neglected; there is an increase of tobacco using, liquor drinking, and subsisting on flesh meats….

You are the Lord’s property – His by creation and His by redemption. “Thou shalt love … thy neighbour as thyself.” The law of self-respect, for the property of the Lord is here brought to view. And this will lead to respect for the obligations which every human being is under to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made. This living machinery is to be understood. Every part of its wonderful mechanism is to be carefully studied. Self-preservation is to be practiced….

The transgression of the physical law is the transgression of God’s law. Our Creator is Jesus Christ. He is the Author of our being. He has created the human structure. He is the Author of physical laws as He is the Author of the moral law. And human beings who are careless and reckless of the habits and practices that concern their physical life and health sin against God. – The Kress Collection, 45, 46.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 310.

Daily Devotional

June 29, 2017

Stimulants Eventually Produce Evil Results

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13, NRSV.

As a people, with all our profession of health reform, we eat too much. Indulgence of appetite is the greatest cause of physical and mental debility, and lies at the foundation of the feebleness which is apparent everywhere.

Intemperance commences at our tables in the use of unhealthful food. After a time, through continued indulgence, the digestive organs become weakened, and the food taken does not satisfy the appetite. Unhealthy conditions are established, and there is a craving for more stimulating food. Tea, coffee, and flesh meats produce an immediate effect. Under the influence of these poisons the nervous system is excited, and, in some cases, for the time being, the intellect seems to be invigorated and the imagination to be more vivid. Because these stimulants produce for the time being such agreeable results, many conclude that they really need them and continue their use.

But there is always a reaction. The nervous system, having been unduly excited, borrowed power for present use from its future resources of strength. All this temporary invigoration of the system is followed by depression. In proportion as these stimulants temporarily invigorate the system will be the letting down of the power of the excited organs after the stimulus has lost its force. The appetite is educated to crave something stronger which will have a tendency to keep up and increase the agreeable excitement, until indulgence becomes habit, and there is a continual craving for stronger stimulus, as tobacco, wines, and liquors….

The great end for which Christ endured that long fast in the wilderness was to teach us the necessity of self-denial and temperance. This work should commence at our tables and should be strictly carried out in all the concerns of life. The Redeemer of the world came from heaven to help us in our weakness, that, in the power which Jesus came to bring us, we might become strong to overcome appetite and passion, and might be victor on every point. – Testimonies for the Church 3:487, 488.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 308.

Daily Devotional

June 28, 2017

Control of Appetite to Begin in Childhood

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7, NKJV.

Not only has disease been transmitted from generation to generation, but parents bequeath to their children their own wrong habits, their perverted appetites, and corrupt passions. Men and women are slow to learn wisdom from the history of the past. The strange absence of principle that characterizes the present generation, the disregard of the laws of life and health, is astonishing. Although a knowledge of these things can be readily obtained, a deplorable ignorance prevails.

With the majority, the principal anxiety is “What shall I eat? what shall I drink? and wherewithal shall I be clothed?” Notwithstanding all that has been said and written upon the importance of health and the means to preserve it, appetite is the great law which governs men and women generally.

What can be done to stay the tide of disease and crime that is sweeping our race down to ruin and to death? As the great cause of the evil is to be found in the indulgence of appetite and passion, so the first and great work of reform must be to learn and practice the lessons of temperance and self-control.

To effect a permanent change for the better in society, the education of the masses must begin in early life. The habits formed in childhood and youth, the tastes acquired, the self-control gained, the principles inculcated from the cradle, are almost certain to determine the future of the man or woman. The crime and corruption occasioned by intemperance and lax morals might be prevented by the proper training of the youth.

One of the greatest aids in perfecting pure and noble characters in the young, strengthening them to control appetite and refrain from debasing excesses, is sound physical health. And, on the other hand, these very habits of self-control are essential to the maintenance of health….

Especially is youth the time to lay up a stock of knowledge to be put in daily practice through life. Youth is the time to establish good habits, to correct wrong ones already contracted, to gain and to hold the power of self-control, and to lay the plan and accustom one’s self to the practice of ordering all the acts of life with reference to the will of God and the welfare of our fellow creatures. – The Review and Herald, December 13, 1881.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 307.