Matthew 5:37 “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

James 5:12 “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

Saying “no” can be difficult, but when it comes to our health and well-being we need to become comfortable with this word. Becoming and staying healthy requires the ability to say no to things and to people.

Living a healthy lifestyle requires discipline and habits that support our life goals. If we don’t learn to confidently say no, we will continue to struggle in living our personal mission. Want to know what happens when we don’t say no to things and people who do not help us move towards our goals?

-You will eventually stop going to the gym or working out (your physical activity and sometimes intensity will decrease)

-You will begin eating the foods you know are not helping to fuel your body

-You will start putting the wellness of others before your own

-You will learn to commit to others but not to yourself

There are Christians who will try to convince us that making our health a priority is selfish, but know that this is not the case. Our health is a priority in God’s eyes. He did not create our bodies and give us the gift of life so that we would intentionally destroy it with diabetes, obesity, laziness, high blood pressure, lack of adequate sleep, and all the other modern ailments that are affecting our country.

In order to be healthy we must learn to say “no”. It may hurt people’s feelings, but as long as we are saying no with kindness and good intentions, there is no need for us to feel wrong about choosing to say no. We can say no to foods that do not work well with our body. We have the right to say no to excessive exercise that cause us injuries, lowers our immune system, or doesn’t make us happy.

In 2015, let the word “no” fall from your lips with ease and sit easy within your heart. Eventually people will learn to respect your boundaries and with time you will respect yourself for saying no to anything that is not good for your body.

 

Resources for learning to say a confident and healthy “No”:

The Best Yes – Lysa TerKeurst

The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg

Boundaries: When to Say Yes – When to Say No – Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend

How People Grow – Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend