Video Ministries

Body and Mind Inseparable

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple
of God is holy, which temple ye are. 1 Cor. 3:17.

One of the strongest temptations that man has to meet is upon the point of
appetite. Between the mind and the body there is a mysterious and wonderful
relation. They react upon each other. To keep the body in a healthy
condition to develop its strength, that every part of the living machinery
may act harmoniously, should be the first study of our life. To neglect the
body is to neglect the mind. It cannot be to the glory of God for His
children to have sickly bodies or dwarfed minds. To indulge the taste at the
expense of health is a wicked abuse of the senses. . . .

The Redeemer of the world knew that the indulgence of appetite would bring
physical debility, and so deaden the perceptive organs that sacred and
eternal things would not be discerned. Christ knew that the world was given
up to gluttony and that this indulgence would pervert the moral powers. If
the indulgence of appetite was so strong upon the race that, in order to
break its power, the divine Son of God, in behalf of man, was required to
fast nearly six weeks, what a work is before the Christian in order that he
may overcome even as Christ overcame! The strength of the temptation to
indulge perverted appetite can be measured only by the inexpressible anguish
of Christ in that long fast in the wilderness.

Christ knew that in order to successfully carry forward the plan of
salvation He must commence the work of redeeming man just where the ruin
began. Adam fell by the indulgence of appetite. In order to impress upon man
his obligations to obey the law of God, Christ began His work of redemption
by reforming the physical habits of man. . . .

Intemperance in eating, even of food of the right quality, will have a
prostrating influence upon the system and will blunt the keener and holier
emotions. Strict temperance in eating and drinking is highly essential for
the healthy preservation and vigorous exercise of all the functions of the
body. . . .

The only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not, tea, coffee,
wines, tobacco, opium, and alcoholic drinks. The necessity for the men of
this generation to call to their aid the power of the will, strengthened by
the grace of God, in order to withstand the temptations of Satan and resist
the least indulgence of perverted appetite is twice as great as it was
several generations ago. . . . The Redeemer of the world came from heaven to
help man in his weakness, that, in the power which Jesus came to bring him,
he might become strong to overcome appetite and passion, and might be victor
on every point (Testimonies, vol. 3, pp. 485-488).

>From Lift Him Up - Page 272

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