Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12, NKJV.
There is not one in a thousand, married or unmarried, who realizes the importance of purity of habits, in preserving cleanliness of the body and purity of thought. Sickness and disease is the sure consequence of disobedience to nature's laws, and neglect of the laws of life and health. It is the house in which we live that we need to preserve, that it may do honor to God, who has redeemed us. We need to know how to preserve the living machinery, that our soul, body, and spirit may be consecrated to His service.
As rational beings we are deplorably ignorant of the body and its requirements. While the schools we have established have taken up the study of physiology, they have not taken hold of the matter with that decided energy which they should. They have not practiced intelligently that which they have received in knowledge. And they do not realize that unless it is practiced, the body will decay.
Notwithstanding all the light shining forth from the Scriptures on this subject; notwithstanding the lessons given in the history of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; notwithstanding the result of plain healthful diet, there is little regard for the lessons penned by those inspired of God. The dietetic habits of the people generally are neglected; there is an increase of tobacco using, liquor drinking, and subsisting on flesh meats....
You are the Lord's property—His by creation and His by redemption. “Thou shalt love ... thy neighbour as thyself.” The law of self-respect, for the property of the Lord is here brought to view. And this will lead to respect for the obligations which every human being is under to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made. This living machinery is to be understood. Every part of its wonderful mechanism is to be carefully studied. Self-preservation is to be practiced....
The transgression of the physical law is the transgression of God's law. Our Creator is Jesus Christ. He is the Author of our being. He has created the human structure. He is the Author of physical laws as He is the Author of the moral law. And human beings who are careless and reckless of the habits and practices that concern their physical life and health sin against God.—The Kress Collection, 45, 46.
From To Be Like Jesus - Page 310
To Be Like Jesus