Health and Strength

You already know that inactivity and a bad diet can leave your physical body weak, more prone to illness, and with less capacity for work and enjoyment. The same is true for your spirit. The difference is, while God will give you a perfected, glorious body in the Resurrection, the spirit that inhabits that body will be whatever you have made it to be (see Alma 34:34). So here are some suggestions for developing spiritual health and strength:

Diet

Acquire a taste for spiritual food. Keep consuming the scriptures, general conference addresses, lessons in Church and seminary, and other spiritual foods, and they will begin to be delicious to you (see Alma 32:28).
Feast instead of nibble. With spiritual food, you can eat a lot and become more fit, not fat.
Limit junk food. Just as too many snacks can spoil your appetite for a nourishing dinner, too much time spent on video games, the Internet, TV, and so on, can leave you with little or no time for spiritual feasting.
Don’t eat rotten food. Anything that offends the Holy Spirit is toxic for your own spirit. Pornography, crude or violent entertainment, and unwholesome music are just plain poison.
It’s amazing how much spiritual nourishment there is in one small piece of bread and one sip of water when you take the sacrament thoughtfully and prayerfully in a spirit of repentance.

Exercise

Give service and show kindness. Lifting other people is great exercise.
Do knee bends at least twice a day. Regular prayer is essential for spiritual fitness.
Bear your testimony often. It’s like a muscle that just keeps getting stronger with regular use.

Illustration by Scott Greer