Wellness is a major theme in scripture, beginning with the Old Testament. God wants people to be well (Hebrew, yawtab). God gives the prescription for wellness in the following verses, and scripture is consistent in the usage.
Very often tied into wellness is the prolonging of life, which also conforms to what people might think with "wellness," even today. Here are the verses and some contain both concepts, wellness and prolonged days or quite simply, you may live.
Deuteronomy 4:40, "Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever."
Deuteronomy 5:29, "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
Deuteronomy 5:33, "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess."
Deuteronomy 6:1-3, "1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee,, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 6:18, "And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers."
Deuteronomy 12:28, "Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God."
Psalm 128:1-2, "1 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee."
Ecclesiastes 8:12-13, "12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: 13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Jeremiah 7:23, "But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you."
Jeremiah 38:20, "But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live."
Jeremiah 42:6, "Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."
Ephesians 6:1-3, "1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
I've noticed most often wellness among modern wellness experts does not include the scriptural prerequisites. I would challenge the so-called wellness of those who do not include what scripture says. They might prolong years in a temporal sense, but the prolonging of days go further than this life, and unto the next. Someone doesn't really live until he has eternal life, but that is not the emphasis of wellness today. Wellness instead focuses on the short lives that are lived only on earth in these short 70 to 100 years.
Many of those who focus on wellness do not include faith in Christ and obedience of God and His Word. This is where the concept of wellness proceeds from philosophy and vain deceit (Colossians 2:8). It is a part of an overall lie that fools people into fixating on this life, what Jesus said was gaining the world, but losing one's soul (Matthew 16:26, read also James 4).
Some might complain that the concept is Old Testament, but the Apostle Paul includes this teaching in Ephesians 6 above, and it is found in other words in other places in the New Testament. The prerequisite is related to obedience to God-given authority: scripture and parents. It is the life that proceeds from faith in the Lord. Many of those today who claim and push wellness promote something that excludes what God says about it. It will not be well with them and their adherents.
From What or Where Does the Wrong View or Concept of "Wellness" Come From?
The wellness of scripture, true wellness, originates from God and scripture. Someone is well if someone is aligning with God's Word. It relates to the pleasure of God, but also the end of someone. How will it go in the end for someone? In what will his life culminate through all eternity? That is of greatest importance.
The wellness of the wellness crowd follows philosophy and vain deceit. It is "bodily exercise profits a lot, a whole lot," instead of "profits little." Meats, eats, and whatever diet one takes is of greatest importance in contradiction to the Bible.
More than anything, it's about how someone feels, so it originates from the subject (subjectivity). His well-being is affected by someone preaching against his sinful lifestyle -- that makes him feel bad. If he feels bad because he's confronted over sin, he separates himself from the one who confronts it, and places himself or herself around only affirming, liking, positive, thumbs up people. God isn't pleased, and he or she blocks that off by not exposing himself or herself to biblical exegesis. Everything is siphoned through the grid of his or her feelings, which gives him wellness....for 50 years or so, until he or she faces God, where he finds out he wasn't ever well.
The peace of fake wellness, a major kind of wellness across the world today, comes from lying to one's self, covering or masking the truth. The decision is made to focus on the short life at the exclusion of the eternal one, and block out the consequences of that. This is part of the wellness, separating one's self from the criticism of the fake wellness.
It isn't well with the wellness people, if they are not well with God. God is the author of all true wellness.
From What or Where Does the Wrong View or Concept of "Wellness" Come From?
The wellness of scripture, true wellness, originates from God and scripture. Someone is well if someone is aligning with God's Word. It relates to the pleasure of God, but also the end of someone. How will it go in the end for someone? In what will his life culminate through all eternity? That is of greatest importance.
The wellness of the wellness crowd follows philosophy and vain deceit. It is "bodily exercise profits a lot, a whole lot," instead of "profits little." Meats, eats, and whatever diet one takes is of greatest importance in contradiction to the Bible.
More than anything, it's about how someone feels, so it originates from the subject (subjectivity). His well-being is affected by someone preaching against his sinful lifestyle -- that makes him feel bad. If he feels bad because he's confronted over sin, he separates himself from the one who confronts it, and places himself or herself around only affirming, liking, positive, thumbs up people. God isn't pleased, and he or she blocks that off by not exposing himself or herself to biblical exegesis. Everything is siphoned through the grid of his or her feelings, which gives him wellness....for 50 years or so, until he or she faces God, where he finds out he wasn't ever well.
The peace of fake wellness, a major kind of wellness across the world today, comes from lying to one's self, covering or masking the truth. The decision is made to focus on the short life at the exclusion of the eternal one, and block out the consequences of that. This is part of the wellness, separating one's self from the criticism of the fake wellness.
It isn't well with the wellness people, if they are not well with God. God is the author of all true wellness.
No comments:
Post a Comment