Health and the power of love ........................ Parables 118

Nearly everyone wants to be healthy. Without this desire, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical researchers, medical technologists, X-ray technicians, health food stores, the vitamin industry and a host of other professional people and services would have nothing to do!

Another product of the normal desire to be healthy, PREVENTION Magazine, recently contained an article that lists steps toward a healthy heart. Besides exercise, a low-cholesterol diet, etc., they said that researchers have found that the typical type-A person, hard-driving and ambitious, was not as prone to heart problems as was once thought. In fact, some Type-A’s were and some were not.

It was discovered that it’s not the hard work and constant activity that got a type-A into trouble but hostility! Furthermore, it is not merely being irritable that’s so dangerous, but rude, abrasive, cynical, vengeful, manipulative or condescending treatment of others. Evidently, research has found that hostility is deadly.

Another article was entitled, “Think Yourself Healthy.” It said that when a group of students were shown a film designed to inspire feelings of love and caring, an antibody that protects against colds and upper respiratory infections actually increased in their systems. When they were shown a film that evoked feelings of aggression or helplessness, their normal antibody level dropped.

It was also found from these studies (at Harvard) that higher intimacy, deeper friendships, and the state of being “in love” corresponded with higher levels of resistance to infection. People with pets or plants to care for recover from illnesses more quickly. People who receive loving care also recover faster than those who do not.

Amazingly enough, research has finally uncovered some things that our “Manufacturer’s Manual” has been telling us all along. It says: “Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD and depart from evil - it shall be health to your body and nourishment to your bones . . . My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart - for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.” (Proverbs 3)

Do you realize these Biblical words of advice were written more than 2500 years ago? There were no laboratories, no microscopes, no test-cases or control groups. Most of the people, if they thought about it at all, connected disease with evil spirits or fate, not with unsanitary conditions or BEHAVIOR. Life was short and scientific ignorance abounded.

Yet God tells them, and us, to be polite and gentle, kind to others, offering hope and encouragement, treating people as we would want them to treat us. As a result, we will not only please Him, but have a bonus of a fuller, healthier life.

While the Bible is not intended to be a medical journal, when it speaks about things concerning health, it is accurate because the men who wrote it were God-inspired. The Creator knows how we best function. Attitudes of aggression, fear, isolation, apathy, and hate are harmful to bodily performance and can bring breakdown-conditions, illness and even death. These findings today verify the dependability of God’s Word, and only affirm what the saints of old already knew.