Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

I'm not sure who to attribute this to, as it is often attributed to different people in the past as many sayings are, but one person in America's history said, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."  It's a part of the very fabric of American life.

We can find Biblical verses to back up all of these, but we mustn't forget these are ultimately a cultural value and not a Biblical one.  Although the wise one is pretty hard to argue with from a Biblical standpoint.  There's nothing wrong with striving for each of these as long as they don't get in the way of our true goals as a Christian.

We should ultimately strive to be a reflection of Christ and grow in our Christ-likeness.  For me, if I think about those 3 big ideas too much I can lose sight of growing as a Christ follower.  Recently I saw a post by Bob Goff that said Christ doesn't call us to be the best version of ourselves but rather reflections of Him.  It was a convicting reminder.

I'm all about personal development.  I read books about it, namely about habits that lead to the life I want to live.  Often, these can overshadow my true purpose of reflecting Christ to the world around me if I'm not careful.  They can easily become distractions to my ultimate goal of glorifying God and enjoying His presence.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these.  One could argue that Christ never called us to be wealthy and he didn't really address health all that much.  However, if both health and wealth are looked at as tools to expand the kingdom of God then they should be embraced with open arms.  Wealthy people can do a lot of good with their resources and empower missionaries and local leaders to reach the lost in their communities abroad.  They can also do the same in their own communities.

I can also often seek out wisdom in the wrong places, like reading more personal development books and business books or personal finance books than I read the Bible.  I have some systems in place to try and grow my relationship with Christ but He often shows up when I least expect it.  He often displays His strength in my adversity, like this last fall with the fire and the miscarriage.

That's not to say I'm off the hook in terms of personal responsibility to use the resources He's given to me to advance His kingdom whether that be with talents of the wealth kind or talents of the strengths kind.  However, He often displays His strength more in my weaknesses than He does in my strengths.

To summarize, striving for health, wealth and wisdom aren't bad in and of themselves but they must be put in their proper place in our lives, simply as tools to try and expand the kingdom of God.  And we must remember that ultimately it's His kingdom and He's the One who is going to grow it or reveal it more and more and we're simply privileged to get to be a part of that when He calls us to do so.  Praise be to Him who uses our relatively minuscule efforts to reach the lost for His Name's sake.