The same can be said about our eating. We should not overeat, and we should not be too restricted in the variety of food we eat. We should learn to eat all kinds of food. Some brothers and sisters cannot eat this and that and many other things. There are not too many things that they can eat; this is not a healthy habit. We have to learn to eat a wide variety of food. Many things can provide nourishment to our body. If we will only eat a few things, we are not doing our body any good. We may not feel that we are short in nutrition now, but when we become thirty or forty years old, our lack of certain nutrients will be manifested. Our health will be damaged, and our life will be shortened. Our life is governed by the things we eat. This is why we have to learn to eat a wide variety of food. Another advantage for having a wide variety in our diet is that we are not inconvenienced in any way when we are sent out in the work. Those who cannot accommodate a wide variety of food will not be able to tolerate many things when they are in the field. They cannot eat things that are too cold or too hot. They will encounter much trouble. It is a different story if we are sick; we have to take care of our health. But under ordinary circumstances, we have to learn to eat as many different kinds of food as possible. The Lord Jesus said, "Eat what is set before you" (Luke 10:8). This is a good guiding principle. Once a believer asked another believer on a ship, "Why did the Lord Jesus give loaves and fishes to the multitude?" The other replied, "The riches of the sea plus the riches of the land." This is a very good answer. God's children should learn to take all the riches of the sea and all the riches of the land. The range of food we eat should be wide; the variety should be great. Brothers and sisters, do not think that this is a small thing. If we do not control and discipline ourselves in this matter, our body will suffer. We have to make our body our slave. At the beginning we may find this difficult; we may find some food unpalatable to our taste. But we have to discipline ourselves by forcing ourselves to eat those things. On the one hand, we have to have a mind to suffer. On the other hand, we have to learn to take care of our body. We have to be able to suffer hardship. When hardship comes our way, we have to be ready to sacrifice our whole being. Some brothers are afraid of hardship; they cannot take this and that and many other things. Such ones are useless in the hand of God. Similarly, we have no sympathy for those brothers who do not exercise care for their own body. Brothers and sisters, it is harder to be health conscious than to not be health conscious. Do not think that it is easy to talk about health. In order to take care of our body, we have to learn to control ourselves. A person must exercise self-control before he can be healthy. We have to learn to eat things that are beneficial to our body. Our eating cannot be dictated by our taste; it should be dictated by what our body needs. We have to learn to take good care of our body and to use it properly. We cannot allow our body to break down easily. The Lord has spent many years working on us; we cannot deal with our body lightly. We have to take care of all precautions against disease. If at all possible, and if the Lord so arranges, we should do our best to fulfill the requirements of good health and to eat things that are beneficial to our body. We should not expose our body to risks unnecessarily. Timothy was advised to take some wine, because that was beneficial to his health. Do not drink anything that is harmful to the body. Always take things that are beneficial to the body. This is a matter of principle. On the one hand, we have to deny self-love and be faithful unto death. On the other hand, when we do not have a specific charge from the Lord, we should take good care of our own body. When we go to a place to work, we should try our best to take care of our hygiene. But we should not burden the local brothers and sisters. When the environment is not up to the proper standard of hygiene, we have to learn to trust in God. But when circumstances allow, we should try our best to take care of hygiene. This will spare our body of much unnecessary damage.