GETTING (GODLY) PRIORITIES IN ORDER
“I’m no good to my family if I’m sick or dead.”
—Pastor Leon Fontaine
When it comes to order of priorities, most Christ-followers will tell you it starts with God, then family, and then it’s up to opinion after that. That perspective was changed forever for me when I was asked to speak at the largest church in Canada, the Springs.
The church was in Winnipeg and I live on the other side of North America in Florida. When I considered the church’s commitment in flying me all of the way out there to speak and lead health workshops, I asked the pastor why he felt this was so important.
He said to me, “It’s fitness, then faith, and then family.” My first reaction was to wonder why the pastor would put health in front of the two big treasures of the Christian world. I asked, “Wow, why do you say it’s fitness before faith?” His answer changed my mind-set forever about health and hopefully it will change yours. He said, “Because I’m no good to God or my family if I’m sick or dead.”
That was a revelation for me that the effective life with God is more than just one component. To have Christian harmony, we have to look at the whole. It’s really not a vertical order:
Faith
Family
Fitness
Mission, finance, etc.
It’s really horizontal. All of these are godly priorities, God should be in all of these things, and so they require our full attention at the right time and place. The bottom line is this: we are one—body, mind, and spirit. We can’t hurt one without negatively influencing the others. Conversely and far more positively, we can’t enhance one without at least creating the opportunity to enhance the others. They’re all linked!
The pastor at the Springs in Canada is saying simply that health deserves some serious priority time or life is incomplete. I remember the very first time I was asked to speak at a church. I asked the pastor if I should discuss the issue of salvation since I was asked to speak during the worship service on Sunday morning. He said, “You let me worry about heaven. People are living in hell right now!”
He knew that to get the right balance to heal and really lead his people, life and health were the priority at that time and place. Great leaders around the world today are really understanding that whether it’s their business, church, or nation, if you lose your health, you lose everything. We have to look at the whole person or wholeness.
Your relationship with God, your family, finances, mental health, and your purpose for living all suffer or are lost completely if your health fails and your life is out of balance. You just can’t have a fully effective, purpose-driven life if you lack the health and the vitality to do it! You become a champion at life through lifestyle. That is one big reason why Jesus often made it a priority to stop everything and focus time on restoring people’s health.
Have fun leading the world back to health!
With God, all things are possible,
Dr. Ben