subject: Training The Mind With Important Health Principles Will Breed Better Health Choices [print this page] The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character.The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives.The body is to be brought into subjection.The scriptures bids us, "So run, that ye may obtain.While, on the one hand, danger lurks in a narrow philosophy and a hard, cold orthodoxy, on the other hand there is great danger in a careless liberalism.If parents could be led to trace the result of their action, and could see how, by their example and teaching, they perpetuate and increase the power of sin or the power of righteousness, a change would certainly be made.We have unseen enemies to meet.It increases the danger of failure and defeat.Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood.
They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize.I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.This is recognized by the contestants in athletic games and trials of strength.Many would turn away from tradition and custom, and accept the divine principles of life.The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God.Only as this power is regained can there be real progress.We are waging a warfare upon which hang eternal results.Pointing to the self-denial practiced by the contestants in the ancient Greek games, the apostle Paul writes: "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
They are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself.Every act casts its weight into the scale that determines life's victory or defeat.The word of God points to this as an illustration of what His children are to be--"a living sacrifice," "holy and without blemish," "well-pleasing to God.It is a result of obedience to law.We are to present in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law.Its principles must be kept before the people.Obedience to God is liberty from the thralldom of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse.They are giving to their children an example either of obedience or of transgression.It is not mimic battles in which we are engaged.The sacrifice that was to represent Christ must be spotless.His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being.By becoming one with Christ, man is made free.Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as the sandbank against the torrent.Every physical habit is carefully regulated.
We cannot be too often reminded that health does not depend on chance.The reformatory movement must begin in presenting to them the principles of the law of God as bearing upon both physical and moral health.In that ancient ritual which was the gospel in symbol, no blemished offering could be brought to God's altar.1 Corinthians 9: In the warfare in which we are engaged, all may win who will discipline themselves by obedience to right principles.Verses 25- The progress of reform depends upon a clear recognition of fundamental truth.Verse With our first parents, intemperate desire resulted in the loss of Eden.They submit to thorough training and strict discipline.By their example and teaching, the destiny of their households is decided.The children will be what their parents make them.Show that obedience to God's word is our only safeguard against the evils that are sweeping the world to destruction.He has provided every facility, that man may possess completeness of character.How much more important is such carefulness to ensure success in the conflict of life.The practice of these principles in the details of life is too often looked upon as unimportant--a matter too trivial to demand attention.The higher powers of the being are to rule.Evil angels are striving for the dominion of every human being.Romans 12:1, Ephesians 5: Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected.One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy was the loss of man's power of self-control.
Christ came to this world and lived the law of God, that man might have perfect mastery over the natural inclinations which corrupt the soul.The Physician of soul and body, He gives victory over warring lusts.Whatever injures the health, not only lessens physical vigor, but tends to weaken the mental and moral powers.They know that neglect, excess, or carelessness, which weakens or cripples any organ or function of the body, would ensure defeat.The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God.When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law; but it is the royal law, which proclaims liberty to every captive.Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit.Parents have to do with the very foundation of habit and character.These men make the most careful preparation.Ephesians 6: In no place is such instruction as this more needed, and nowhere will it be productive of greater good, than in the home.Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.Indulgence in any unhealthful practice makes it more difficult for one to discriminate between right and wrong, and hence more difficult to resist evil.Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and from without.The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience.
The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death.They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are the gift of God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.Make plain the responsibility of parents, not only for themselves, but for their children.Temperance in all things has more to do with our restoration to Eden than men realize.Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers.But in view of the issues at stake, nothing with which we have to do is small.Man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of principalities and powers, and of "the rulers of the darkness of this world," and of "spiritual wickedness in high places.
