Are You Healthy?

Beginning around New Year's Day, I set a goal to read through the minor prophets of the Old Testament this winter.  Yes, I've read each and every book before. Yes, I've even read through the Bible chronologically. But did you know, that as Believers, God opens up our eyes to His treasures...His Words...every single time we open up our Bibles (whether it's a hard cover, soft cover, or electronic one)?  He has something new for us every.single.time. And I'm discovering some new insights with the re-reading of these minor prophets.  It helps, too, that I have research notes in the Bible I'm using:  The Soul Care Bible.....(New King James Version)

So I thought I'd turn my journal writing notes into blog posts to share with others who might be interested.  It's also a way for me to gather my notes for a future mini book I'm planning on (prayerfully) publishing. 

I started with Malachi.  It's the last book of the Old Testament.  I'm reading the minor prophets going backwards.

Malachi, to sum it up, is about our spiritual health.

This time of year, so many Americans seem to get obsessed with their physical health. Flu shots or no?  Antibiotics or let it run its course? Probiotics or yogurt? Lose weight, exercise more, give up refined sugars, give up beer. Pay exorbitant fees at the gym or buy a treadmill and weights to keep at home?  Plant-based or Keto? vegan or paleo? yoga or pilates? You get the idea.  Many of us schedule our annual physicals, blood work and mammograms around this time of year....a fresh start with the new calendar year. We are consumed with keeping our physical bodies fit. Some of us participate in word games and mental puzzles or read daily to keep our minds fit.

image courtesy of the m*nd quotes

But what about our spiritual health?

Are we as obsessed about getting fit spiritually as we are physically and/or mentally?

 God is reminding us, through his prophet Malachi, that spiritual soul/heart disease happens slowly but steadily.  and often deadly!

The Israelites at this time in history, had stopped seeking God. They were engaged with hypocrisy, idolatry, adultery, divorce, materialism, and apathy towards the Lord.  Hm...sounds like us today, right?  Malachi's job was to warn them.  He did this through thought-provoking questions to hopefully lead them to repentant hearts.  But they did not repent!

What happens when we stop seeking God?  We become apathetic, disheartened, and although we may appear to be "healthy" on the outside, doing all the "right religious things", our hearts are getting cold and hard on the inside.  This is called "soul neglect".  The symptoms become as obvious as physical symptoms do when you have physical heart neglect (fat in the middle of your body, sluggishness, clogged arteries, joint pain and breathing difficulties).

Let's purpose in our hearts to get fit!!  Yes...physical fitness is vital...but spiritual fitness is even more vital, I think, because our souls will go somewhere when we die. And we all will die one day no matter how physically fit we are.  Our bodies will either be buried or cremated.  But our souls will either go to heaven or hell.  You get to choose!

Are you choosing spiritual  health?? 

(This is an intro  to a series I'm writing based on the book of Malachi.  I hope you come back for more and feel free to comment!)