I wrote this early last month with the assumption that I was writing to people who agree in the importance of wearing a seatbelt, wearing a helmet, brushing your teeth and eating right. That said, here is a new take on my views…
Would you like to be in a car accident today? Would you benefit from colliding with a large object on your bike? How would you feel about going to the dentist and finding out you have to have half your teeth pulled or filled? Does lying in a hospital bed dying from pneumonia sound like something you want to accomplish on earth?
I am hoping that you would not find joy in any of these experiences. It’s common knowledge that a seatbelt is helpful in case of an accident. It’s also law in many states that you must wear one. There are people who feel no need to wear one, and I suppose that is the risk they take. However, many people feel better knowing they are restrained if ever they’re in an accident. Now, would it be better if the law stated that everyone can go without seatbelts until they feel convicted to do otherwise? What if it took crashing your car, and watching the unbelted person next to you flung through the window, for you to regularly buckle up? That would be very extreme. I buckle up as much as possible. I am very uncomfortable when there isn’t a seatbelt available to use. Do I have to personally be in an accident to believe the benefits of a seatbelt? No, I rely on the law and statistics. Those in government deemed it important enough to enforce, so I take heed.
How many people actually wear a helmet? There are many age limits on who can go without one, and who must wear one when riding a bike. Why would they impose such a law? Why should we trust the studies done on the protection a helmet provides? If they would just forget about helmets, and stop advertising them to us, we could decide for ourselves if it is necessary for our safety. I would much rather run my bike into a tree, smash my head open, and be rushed to the hospital with a concussion before accepting that a bicycle helmet is useful. Don’t you want to slap me upside the head for that logic? Yeah, I don’t blame you.
Dentists are constantly nagging us about the health benefits of brushing regularly and flossing. If we do not follow these instructions, we leave our teeth to decay and rot. Frankly, brushing my teeth once a day is hassle enough, let alone three times or after every meal! Flossing? Don’t even get me started on flossing. Let my teeth rot out of my mouth before handing me a toothbrush. Until I have a cavity in almost every tooth, or need to have several removed, will I believe that I need to brush my teeth. It doesn’t matter that it happens to other people, or that the dentist tells me to brush, if it does not happen to me personally.
Eating right, dressing warmly in the winter, drinking lots of water, and keeping active are all good ways to remain healthy. Several doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers and others dealing with out body’s health will encourage this lifestyle. Sleeping right and making sure get our daily dose of vitamins is helpful in fighting off sickness. However, someone may say, “I’ve eaten poorly all my life and look at me! I’m as healthy as a carrot.” The lame simile aside, that is a poor view. Eating well makes you feel so much better. I have eaten junk food for a week and at the end felt really gross. A greasy bag of chips can make you feel greasy all over and the smell of pizza tends to linger on your clothes. What a shame it would be to waste my life sitting on a couch, eating everything wrong, getting to bed late at night or early in the morning, never going outside for fresh air, and drinking only carbonated beverages. My immune system would not thank me later. If that same guy who said he was healthy faced pneumonia, his odds of fighting it off would be a lot less than those of someone who has been nurturing their immune system. There are other factors, but logically, those are some precautions we can take. If he did not take any of those, then he could end up really sick and not have the opportunity to straighten up and live right.
“Too many people in our world today say, ‘You need to have certain experiences so you won’t be naïve…you won’t be innocent…you won’t be gullible. You want to be sophisticated and savvy, don’t you? You need to try this, have this, own this or experience this if you’re going to be knowledgeable and fit in to this society and culture.’ What a lie that is! There is no sin in being naïve, innocent, or gullible. There’s no glory in being sophisticated or savvy. There’s no place in God’s Word where He tells us that we must do our utmost to be knowledgeable and fit in to the greater society and culture. The exact opposite is true. God calls us to be innocent. He calls us to live in purity. He calls us to have no association with or knowledge of evil. He calls us to be separate from sinful society and culture, and to avoid walking on a broad road that leads to destruction. (See Matthew 7:13)” (When The Enemy Strikes, pgs. 83-84)
I came across this section while Ray and I were doing devotions last night. It encouraged me that I am not the only one who feels that way. I don’t want to have to be flung from a car, and hope I survive so that I believe that seatbelts are beneficial. Likewise, I do not want to have to end up pregnant out of wedlock, or contract and STD, because I did not believe God is watching out for my well-being in stating sex is meant for a man and his wife. I do not want to have to be subject to the emotional scarring from handing out pieces of myself to every guy who comes along. I waited for my husband, and I mean we both waited for our honeymoon. I can tell you I am glad that God made such a commandment, because honestly I would be afraid I’d have lost that gift to someone else. I know how hard it was to break up with my boyfriend because of all I had poured into it emotionally. Just because I did not compromise my sexuality before I was married, does not make me any less of an advocate of abstaining for marriage. In fact, I would rather be able to share the benefits of waiting rather than the pit-falls of not waiting. If I have to fall into sin in order to understand God’s reasons for asking us not to partake in certain things, then I am going to find myself prone to more strongholds. I don’t want to open any more doors than I need to. I’ve doubted His commandments before, and not taken care of myself. However, I do not need to get myself drunk to know that I do not want any part of it. I’ve seen people drunk. What is the sense? I choose to abstain from alcohol because of conviction. Would you follow my example more if I had succumbed to an alcoholic slump, and became addicted? Sometimes people need to hear this to believe, but trusting God’s commands takes faith. I believe in the unseen. I may be naive in some instances and less experienced, but there is nothing wrong with being innocent. I want to hold onto as much of it as possible. I used to laugh at people who were naïve and shocked at the world’s values. Now, I wish I were more like them. I want to be aware, but not submersed in the world. I want to know what is out there, without having to take part in it. If you type in “porn” into the search engine, several sites will pop up. I can then affirm, there are many sites devoted to pornography on the internet. Do I have to open up every one of those links and view the sites to come to that conclusion? No. Looking at them would only cause a foothold for the devil to tempt a return.
If you have found yourself teased for being pure and innocent, then do not be discouraged. I would much rather be looked down on by some for living for God and holding to His values than looked down on those who I look up to and admire for doing just what I am trying to do. I love God, and He had the Bible written not to condemn me, but rather to free me. I’ve entertained temptation to the point of caving, and I have the battle scars to bear for it. However, I do not wear those scars as pride in what I did, but rather in humbleness to how God again rescued me from destruction. I am not strong on my own. We have all sinned, but I applaud those who not only take hold of the salvation He freely offers, but choose to proclaim “This world has nothing for me. I find my peace and joy solely in you!” (People Get Ready-Crystal Lewis) There is no shame in really living for God, only in missing out on receiving more of His love.
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