Merriam-Webster defines healthy as:
- not displaying clinical signs of disease or infection
- showing physical, mental, or emotional well-being
- prosperous; flourishing
Our health has to do with our life and its function. A healthy person is both full of life and function. An unhealthy person, on the other hand, is lacking either in life or function (or the ability to function), or both.
This life is the divine life. This function is the divine function, not just our function as man, but our function as Christians.
So why does Paul use the word healthy to describe words? Why not true or some other word? Because this has to do with life and function. These words cause us to have divine life. These words promote our Christian function. In contrast, other words kill the life within and kill our function.
No matter where we are in our Christian journey, we need these healthy words. These healthy words, which 1 Tim. 6:3 shows us, are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we’re newly saved and baptized, or we’ve been a Christian for decades, these healthy words cause the divine life to flourish within us, and our divine function to become manifest.
In this day and age, we’re bombarded by “other words.” We need a fresh infusing of the healthy words.
Just as the way to be physically healthy is to eat, drink, and breathe properly, and exercise regularly, the way to be healthy spiritually is to eat, drink, and breathe properly, and exercise regularly.
How can Christians eat, drink, breathe, and exercise properly?