I Thessalonians 5:19-22 offers a way to improve both spiritual and physical health.
“Do not quench the Spirit.” (I Thess. 5:19) Every person occasionally knows a desire to find something better: God, Truth, Health, Energy, Productivity. In many, this desire eventually dies. Spirit can be quenched as much by malnutrition as by the smother of wrong practice. Spiritual hunger and the hunger for truth and health works opposite that of hunger for food: with spiritual hunger, the more you eat the more you want, the less you eat the less you want. With most, the hunger for Spirit and Truth has gone so long without nourishment that hunger has been completely quenched, and there is no more desire.
Leonardo da Vinci said in one of his notebooks that most people spend life doing nothing more than processing food into dung. The image of using days to process food into dung helps demonstrate living with an inspired Spirit by demonstrating life opposite inspiration.
Paul describes how to tap into Spirit and inflame it rather than quench it, giving power to move to something better. His two-step plan is brilliant and simple.
Step 1: “Do not despise prophecies.” (I Thess 5:20) When I hear something that seems true but not consistent with my daily routines, I’ll frequently ignore the truth by putting it out of mind. When I hear someone who is enlightened (either by inspiration or by knowledge), I will sometimes hear the ring of inspiration and truth in his or her words but go back to my usual routine and become distracted, despising prophecy. Therefore, I don’t see the benefit that could have been mine by demonstrating truth with my hands and feet and work and play.
In short, I ignore good advice. Paul’s first step is to seek truth and put it to use. But, how?
Paul gives a simple answer in Step 2: “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (I Thess 5:21-22)
Test everything, all things: thoughts (mine and from others), food, people, books, movies, work, projects, habits….everything). Using the filter of truth and the idea of something better (which comes through prophecy), what is good?
Hold tightly to good foods, people, books, movies, projects, and habits. Nurture them. Fill your house with them. Fill your hours, mind, and plans with them. Hold tightly to them. Test everything that comes near and hold the good.
If something does not pass the test, it becomes easier to abstain if your calendar already spills full with what is good. It becomes easier to avoid dumping garbage into a grocery buggy full of healthy foods. It becomes less desirable to follow destructive people when you’ve tasted a diet of constructive people.
In summary: First, seek inspiration and truth about spiritual and physical health. Second, use the truth you find to test all, holding tightly to all that passes. Then the good gives strength and direction to avoid all the rest.