Section 9—Interrelationship of Body and Mind
Chapter 40—Body Affects Mind (Part 1)
Close Relationship Between Mind and Body—There is an intimate relation between the mind and the body, and in order to reach a high standard of moral and intellectual attainment, the laws that control our physical being must be heeded.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 601 (1890).
Mental Effort Affected by Physical Vigor—We should seek to preserve the full vigor of all our powers for the accomplishment of the work before us. Whatever detracts from physical vigor weakens mental effort. Hence, every practice unfavorable to the health of the body should be resolutely shunned.
Says the great apostle, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” We cannot maintain consecration to God and yet injure our health by the willful indulgence of a wrong habit. Self-denial is one of the conditions, not only of admission into the service of Christ, but of continuance therein. Christ Himself declared, in unmistakable language, the conditions of discipleship: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Yet, how many who call themselves Christians are unwilling to exercise self-denial, even for Christ’s sake. How often the love for some pernicious indulgence is stronger than the desire for a sound mind in a sound body. Precious hours of probation are spent, God-given means squandered, to please the eye or to gratify the appetite. Custom holds thousands in bondage to the earthly and sensual. Many are willing captives; they desire no better portion.—The Signs of the Times, June 1, 1882.
The Power of Discriminating Between Right and Wrong—Anything that lessens physical strength enfeebles the mind and makes it less capable of discriminating between right or wrong.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 346 (1900).
Wrong Habits Yield Distorted Concepts—Brother ____, you dwell upon yourself. You view many things in a perverted light. You have suspicion of men, great distrust and jealousy, and you surmise evil. You think everybody is determined to ruin you. Many of these trials originate with you yourself. Many things are construed by you to be premeditated to injure you, when this is farthest from the real truth. You do yourself the greatest injury by your wrong course.
You are your greatest enemy. Your wrong habits unbalance the circulation of the blood and determine [direct] the blood to the brain, and then you view everything in a perverted light. You are quick and high-tempered, and you have not cultivated self-control. Your will and your way seem right to you. But unless you see the defects in your character and wash your robe and make it white in the blood of the Lamb, you will surely fail of everlasting life. You love the theory of the truth, but you do not let it sanctify your life. You do not carry out in your daily deportment the principles of the truth you profess.—Letter 27, 1872.
Physical Habits Affect the Brain—The brain is the citadel of the being. Wrong physical habits affect the brain and prevent the attainment of that which the students desire—a good mental discipline. Unless the youth are versed in the science of how to care for the body as well as for the mind, they will not be successful students. Study is not the principal cause of breakdown of the mental powers. The main cause is improper diet, irregular meals, a lack of physical exercise, and careless inattention in other respects to the laws of health. When we do all that we can to preserve the health, then we can ask God in faith to bless our efforts.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 299 (1913).
Peter and Body-Mind Relationship—The apostle Peter understood the relation between the mind and the body and raised his voice in warning to his brethren: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Many regard this text as a warning against licentiousness only; but it has a broader meaning. It forbids every injurious gratification of appetite or passion. Every perverted appetite becomes a warring lust. Appetite was given us for a good purpose, not to become the minister of death by being perverted, and thus degenerating into “lusts which war against the soul.” [See next chapter, “Diet and Mind.”]—Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 53, 54, 1890. (Counsels on Diet and Foods, 166, 167.)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/78.43#43
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for teaching us how intimately is the body and mind. Please bless us to follow Your guidance in their harmonious development. that we can be truly transformed to share Your love to those around us. With the right motives, we can be used of Your Holy Spirit to be a blessing. Thank You for the privilege of prayer and for knowing that through the name of Your Son we may expect what we ask, because we ask according to Your will to be in communion with Jesus. Please bless us to commit to doing right with the motive of divine love: overcoming every tendency to sin against You. Please grant to us a pure, wholesome, consistent Christian life, which is obtained by daily studying Your Word, the Holy Bible, under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, to behold and reflect the character of Jesus to each other first and to the world. Like Jesus, please bless us to not be conformed to this world, but to be truly transformed into the persons You would have us be, working fully in the service of the King: Jesus. Please bless us truly to contemplate the life of Christ and to allow Your Word to develop within us that true religion, borne of love, which ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes us patient partakers of the vibrant health, purity, and holiness of Heaven. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Your Son, Almighty Jesus the Christ, our Savior, we say Thank You and Amen.
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DID YOU KNOW THIS…?
¶Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.—3 John 1:2 KJV —[The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
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If you want to support Christian radio programming for these final days, please visit
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I coordinate wonderful health and worship events and conferences online and onsite as a gospel medical missionary at Uchee Pines, a total plant-based health retreat, where doctors and practitioners specialize in lifestyle medicine. For event details, visit https://www.ucheepines.org/events
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