Your wellness is your witness

Monthly Theme: Why Wellness?

Reading time: two minutes.

I know how flight attendants feel.

We’ve all heard the “oxygen mask speech.”

And we all wonder if anyone is listening. I hope you are.

When traveling with those who need your assistance, putting on your own oxygen mask first is a testimony to your core value. “I believe I will function better with an adequate supply of oxygen.”

Your own wellness is your first witness to the healing power of the Gospel in the lives of others.

First, breathe in. Then breathe out.

Be a receiver of the Word of grace into your soul, then share the good news with others.

They’ve heard you tell about Jesus. People also look to see how the gospel has impacted your life.

When you take care of your own spiritual, relational, emotional and physical needs, you’re telling others 3 important things:

#1 “I’m no angel. I’m just like Peter.”

The Gospels are filled with stories of Peter because he was so human. That’s the point of the Lord’s call into ministry—Peter’s call and your call, too.

Humans really do make the best pastors and church workers.

Paul and Barnabas ran into this problem in Lystra. When the people wanted to offer sacrifices to them, they shouted, “Why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you!” (Acts 14:15) They raised a huge fuss because the proclamation of the Gospel would be diminished if it only applied to super-humans.

When you are clear about your frailties, faults and weaknesses, and when people see how you rely on the grace of Christ for a joyful family life, for a vibrant faith life and for physical replenishment, they listen.

#2 You can’t teach what you don’t live.

“You really believe what you teach, don’t you?” is the best feedback you could ever hear. It’s the antidote for charges of hypocrisy. Living by grace at home, at church and in the community is a humble expression that you don’t just know your theology, you live it in practical and tangible ways.

When knowledge of the Gospel of grace travels from the head down to the heart, it shows.

Young people can spot a phony a mile away. There may have been a time when stuffed-shirt, pious church workers could get away with the “I’ve got it all together” act, but that time (if it ever existed) is past.

#3 Soli Deo Gloria.

The Holy Spirit alone gives us our baptismal identity, spiritual receptivity, relational unity, intellectual curiosity, emotional harmony, vocational humility, physical vitality and financial generosity. Your wellness lifestyle shouts out loud and clear, “God did this, not me!”

Of all the reasons to get your “Gospel oxygen mask” firmly in place, your living testimony to the goodness of Jesus is likely at the top of the list.

Why wellness? You’re a living example of the healing, sustaining love of Christ.

Thanks for reading.