Friday, December 8, 2017

Staying Healthy .......... Parables 677

July 18, 2000

Hard physical work leaves me stiff and sore but after a week of not doing any hard work, I am stiff and sore anyway. My body demands some TLC. I try a warm-up, some light exercises, a walk, and some stretching. It really helps. “Use it or lose it” is definitely true when it comes to flexibility and muscle tone. A body needs exercise.

There are several ways to keep physically fit. We realize the value of a good diet, rest and exercise, but do we know how much our emotions affect our body?

For instance, love produces endorphins and a sense of health, but anger reduces our white blood cell count, making us more susceptible to illness. God may have had more in mind than our spiritual health when He said, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”

Other sins affect our body too. First Corinthians says, “He who sins sexually sins against his own body.” Widespread venereal disease and AIDS prove the physical harm caused from disregarding what the Bible says about sexual purity. But any sin can affect our health. Israel’s King David, wrote Psalm 38 as a prayer. He was not specific about his sin but very specific about the harm it caused his body:

“Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin . . . . My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly . . . . My back is filled with searing pain . . . . I am feeble and utterly crushed . . . . My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.”

My body experiences negative changes from guilt also. I am fatigued, sad, unable to concentrate or be creative, and sometimes I get sick.

While not all illness is related to unconfessed sin, the Bible tells us to consider it. James 5 says, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

This passage offers a spiritual cause for some illnesses. It also offers a cure. Deal with the sin by confession because it promotes healing.

Confession simply means to agree with God. If He says we have done something wrong or evil and have broken His law, we need to acknowledge that what He says is true and right.

However, verbal confession is not a panacea or a magic formula based on the words we say because God is not a genie we rub with the right words every time we want something. He knows our hearts and the reasoning behind what we do. Our words must come from a genuine sense of guilt and a heartfelt need for forgiveness. He looks for sincerity before He “forgives our sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.”

If sin prevents full health, my body may be healed through confession, but it is not made perfect. No matter how well I take care of myself, my body will always have some limitations. Yet I do have hope. Someday “Those who are of the earth will bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”

God promises those who trust in Jesus Christ that they will someday have a body like His resurrected body. Sin and death will no longer have power to drag us into illness. Anger will no longer affect our white count. We will be delivered from it and from every other limitation of living in a sinful world in these imperfect bodies.

In the meantime, eat right, drink lots of water, get good exercise and rest, and trust in the Lord with all your heart; it is good for a body.

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