For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)
Recently I was vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Initially I thought I would treat myself to some meals out at restaurants. I budgeted for this financially. But there was another “budget” I ended up giving second consideration to, and actually making a priority to, and that was my health budget. I realized that to stay within my “budget” I need to eat in at the condo I was renting instead. I reminded myself that I had myself on a “diet budget” as well, and I needed to stay disciplined with it. I needed to remind myself of my “why.” My “why” is I still have a health challenge I am determined to overcome, and I had recently implemented a new way of eating in order to hopefully heal my body from this challenge.
When we set a health budget, just like a financial budget, we need to determine what are our first priorities. In my case, even though I was on a little vacation, my health restoration plan still took priority over splurging on restaurant food. It definitely took self-control on my part as I am known for saying “what the heck, I’m on vacation” to justify eating something that is not very good for me – even if that “vacation” is just an overnight visit with friends! Not to mention I love dining out – especially at local, unique restaurants. I can justify eating unhealthy food right along with the best of them – if I allowed myself to ignore my discipline and throw self-control right out the window. But what happens when we do that?
What Does the Bible Say About Self Control?
Let’s begin with our starting point first – as we truly should with every decision, large or small – what does the Bible say about (fill in the blank)? Let’s get very basic here by first simply defining self-control.
Merriam Webster says the definition of self-control is this: restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires.
Hmmm, sounds a lot like what the Bible would suggest we do with everything in our lives, including how we manage our health.
Proverbs 25:28 says: A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. If my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who resides on the inside of me, and I surrender my self-control to protect that temple, then it becomes broken and unsafe, unhealthy. If I surrender self-discipline for one thing (my diet in this case), I am more apt to surrender self-discipline in other areas that are not pleasing to God too.
Hebrews 12:11 says: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Simply put, this is delayed gratification. Being healthy plays a huge part when it comes to fulfilling our purpose for the Kingdom. And it takes being disciplined and self-control with our health budget in order to achieve and maintain wholistic health.
And Proverbs 13:4 says: The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Giving into our fleshly desires and breaking our own commitments of discipline to ourselves offers us nothing but a short-lived, temporary satisfaction, leaving us with nothing but underlying feelings of guilt, emptiness and at times even sickness. We might feel good in the moment and even tend to make matters worse by denying these feelings and even stuffing them; but stuffing and hiding any negative emotions only exacerbates the demise of our wholistic health.
The word self-control can also be interchanged with “discipline” as well. So, whether you are setting a financial budget, or a health one, one of the primary tools to maintaining it once it’s been set is self-control and discipline.
What is a Health Budget?
A health budget certainly can include a financial component for things like healthy foods, and even deductibles and co-pays for in case we get sick. But a health budget goes beyond a set dollar amount, it more specifically includes priorities and discipline with how you view your overall health as well. Think of the words “health budget” as interchangeable with “health plan”. Determine the things you will not waiver on as it pertains to staying healthy or restoring your health. Be convicted of these things and hold them in high priority. Let’s go back to my trip to the Outer Banks.
While I initially budgeted financially to be able to dine out while I was there, when it came right down to making the decision as to where I would go, and what I would eat, I quickly realized that none of my options would support my health plan. A high priority for me right now is eating the right foods to heal my body. After all, the foods we consume play a huge role in whether our body has the right building blocks to build up our health or tear it down – a huge role.
I knew that unless I found say a farm to table type of restaurant that highly promoted themselves as preparing and serving non-GMO, organic, grass-fed, no growth hormone foods, no MSG, it would not serve my body and my health well at all to dine out. It just wasn’t worth foregoing my health budget, which is a high priority right now, to eat at any one of the otherwise fantastic restaurants on the Outer Banks. I know from experience they will always be there, and one day I could go back and treat myself. But now was not that time.
But here is an example of a challenge anyone of us can expect to face when determining to do things God’s way. As I was chatting with another woman while hiking one of the days, she told me of the various places she had eaten. I conversed back that I didn’t really know of anywhere that served up extremely healthy food and that is why I chose to eat in. And her reply back was what I have heard myself say multiple times “well, I’m on vacation and it doesn’t hurt to treat yourself once in a while.” If I had not been convicted of my own health budget, I could have caved and thought to myself “she’s right, what would it hurt to go out just this once? After all, I’m on vacation.” And off the wagon I would have fallen.
To help me stay disciplined with my health budget, I brought food from home to prepare healthy meals in where I was staying. I also placed a higher priority on enjoying my vacation time on other things like hiking, shopping and sight-seeing, and reflecting on God’s beauty and goodness, enjoying His Presence as well. I did all of this while enjoying the fresh sea air and sunshine that supported my overall mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health, including having the planned financial budget to do so as well.
Why a Health Budget?
The key to maintaining and achieving any goal and staying on budget is to keep your “why” in front of you at all times. And your ultimate “why” is your unique, divine, purpose and reason for being here on this earth. This is why knowing what your purpose is, is so key to achieving and maintaining optimum health and healing. And maintaining a health budget is one of the tools that will support your purpose. In addition to my ultimate why, I also have as another one of my why’s is to overcome the health challenge I am currently faced with.
How to Develop a Health Budget
Start by writing out one goal in each area of your health: mental (time management, budget, career, goal-setting, your purpose etc.), emotional (including relationships and community), physical and spiritual, that supports your why, or at least supports a specific challenge you may want to overcome, like I am doing with my physical health challenge. Even though it’s a physical health challenge, the other components of my health can support this primary goal – like making sure I have set aside enough time to prepare healthy meals, stay accountable to others in my community circle, and of course continue to seek God for His direction for my health plan.
After writing out a goal, then write down the action steps you need to take to achieve that goal. Remember, your goals need to be S.M.A.R.T goals. See my blog “Are You Ready for 2025?” to learn how to write and successfully achieve goals.
Then make these goals and action steps a priority in your life by exercising self-discipline. And keep your “why” – your purpose – on the forefront of your thoughts on a regular basis.
In Summary
A health budget is simply developing a game plan for your wholistic health – including your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual components – and making the steps you have determined to follow to achieve your plan a priority.
And remember this: YOU are valuable! We all need YOU. YOU have a unique, divine, purpose and reason for being here on this earth. YOU matter. And most of all? YOU were created by God, and highly loved and favored by Him!
I give a whole presentation to show you how you can restore your body back to good health using natural approaches, wholistically.
go to : https://jackiemckool.com/schedule-jackie/
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