Monthly Theme: Why Wellness?
Reading time: two minutes.
I think I know how the flight attendant feels.
We’ve both given the “Oxygen Mask” speech thousands of times. We both know most people have heard it endlessly.
And we both wonder if anyone is listening. I hope you are.
When traveling with those who need your assistance, putting on your own oxygen mask first is a testimony to a core value of yours. “I believe I will function better with an adequate supply of oxygen.”
Your own wellness is your first witness to the healing power of the gospel in the lives of others.
Breathe in first. Then breathe out.
Be a receiver of the word of grace into your own soul, then share the good news with others.
They’ve heard you tell about Jesus. People also look to see how the gospel has impacted your life.
When you take care of your own spiritual, relational, emotional and physical needs, you’re telling others,
#1 “I’m no angel. I’m just like Peter.”
The gospels are filled with Peter stories because he was so human. That’s the point of the Lord’s call into ministry; Peter’s and yours.
Humans make the best Pastors and church workers.
Paul and Barnabas ran into this problem in Lystra. When the people wanted to offer sacrifices to them, they shouted, “Why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you!” (Acts 14:15) They raised a huge fuss because the proclamation of the gospel would be diminished if it only applied to super-humans.
When you are clear about your frailties, faults, and weaknesses, and when people see how you rely on the grace of Christ for a joyful family life, for a vibrant faith life, and for physical replenishment, they listen.
#2 You can’t teach what you don’t live.
“You really believe what you teach don’t you?” is the best feedback you can ever hear. It’s the antidote for charges of hypocrisy. Living by grace at home, at church, and in the community is a humble expression that you don’t just know your theology, you live it in practical and tangible ways.
When knowledge of the gospel of grace travels from the head down to the heart, it shows.
Millennials can spot a phony a mile away. There may have been a time when stuffed-shirt, pietistic church workers could get away with the “I’ve got it all together” act, but that time (if it ever existed) is past.
#3 Soli Deo Gloria.
The Holy Spirit alone gives us our baptismal identity, spiritual receptivity, relational unity, intellectual curiosity, emotional harmony, vocational humility, physical vitality, and financial generosity. Your wellness lifestyle shouts out loud and clear, “God did this, not me!”
Of all the reasons to get your gospel oxygen mask firmly in place, your living testimony to the goodness of Jesus is likely at the top of the list.
You’re a living example of the healing, sustaining love of Christ.
Thanks for reading.
