Q: What time do you sleep at night, and what time do you wake up? How many glasses of water do you drink every day? Considering your job, how many e-mails and invitations do you receive every day? Do you respond to all of them? — Kenneth, a 27-year-old Filipino working in Thailand
A: Kenneth, it’s important to try to live a balanced life, getting appropriate rest, exercise and nutrition. This is a responsibility to God to live according to His plans. Unfortunately, travel, scheduled meetings, and various pressures disrupt the ideal, but these are good objectives to aim at since God asks us to live according to His moral and physical laws for optimum blessing.
I try to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night, generally avoid desserts and sweetened foods, try to eat simply and modestly, drink an appropriate amount of water starting at the beginning of the day and throughout the day, and walk two miles a day. The challenge is to try to live healthfully all the time when there are many time constraints.
Regarding e-mail and invitations, I haven’t counted them, but it’s a lot! I answer many of them myself, but also have staff members who assist me, particularly with the many invitations that come in.
In regards to a healthy lifestyle, I fully recognize that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19, 20), that whatever we eat or drink we should do it to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31) and that God wants us to be in physical health just as He wants us to be in spiritual health (3 John 2). This is part of living a justified and sanctified life — all through the grace and power of Christ and His righteousness. This is part of Comprehensive Health Ministry, which is the right arm of the gospel — living and sharing God’s way to live life to the fullest through the power of the Holy Spirit every day.