You might well be aware of the verse in the Bible where Jesus teaches his disciples not to worry because God will provide.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.“ Matthew 6:25-34
When you read this scripture what do you take from it? Specifically, why should you be able to not worry? Finish this sentence – “I don’t have to worry because….”
This passage in Matthew was the focus of a recent Bible study I attend. What came to me clearly was the significance of what Jesus says at the end of verse 26. He asks his followers, “Are you not much more valuable than they(the birds)?”
To God, you are so very, very valuable. This is huge! Do you really believe and know how much God loves you and how valuable you are to him? Jesus wants us to know this deep in our hearts? If we can let this sink in….. and we can remember and truly believe how much God loves us, we won’t need to worry. We’ll be able to trust that God will provide.
How much does god love you? Here’s what the Bible tells us – “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 That’s just what God’s Son did for you. He gave his life for you. So, may you have the power and ability to understand how wide and long and high and deep the love of God is for you. Ephesians 3:18 And in this, may you not worry but trust, have faith…. and be in good health.
“The dominant approach to health care in the United States concerns broken bodies more than broken lives.”
“Health care is a mess.”
“”Jesus said, “The poor will always be with you.” So far, he has been right. If he ever asks me, “Where were you when I was poor and sick?” I want to be able to answer, “I cared for you as best I could.”"
” Doctors learn to ‘keep out.’ Doctors learn to practice medicine by taking a medical history and asking questions around the symptoms the patient describes. ….. This process also says, ‘Keep out.’ Keep out of my heart. Keep out of my sorrow, my stress, my fatigue, my relationships. Keep out of my private space. Just fix what hurts.”
“Every day, every single day, doctors tell patients there’s nothing wrong because they find no physical root for patient complaints….. Whatever is amiss is not a matter for the health care system.”
“Plenty is wrong. Spiritual and emotional issues manifest in physical ways.(my emphasis) But, our health care system draws a line and says, ‘Keep Out.’”
“Health care is a mess. People want change. But to what?”
“Efforts at health care reform fail because they avoid the essential questions of wellness. The starting point is off kilter. Our health care system is built on the premise of waiting for people to break in some way and then come through the doors, where we will use our technological wizardry to fix them…. That’s not health care.”
“Caring for health means attending to the things that keep you well long before you break and need the door to technology.”
“In the next couple of chapters, …. we’ll delve into what you can do to bring change to your [personal] health care.”
My Thoughts
Morris is right, so very often it’s deeper spiritual and emotional issues that are at the root of the physical ailments we have. Most medical professionals will agree that the greatest majority (80-90%) of visits to physician offices are because of stress-related issues.
Our greatest hope in changing our personal health status is in loving our creator, God, and in living according to the many principles found in his guidebook for living, the Bible.
God is love. 1 John 4:8
His greatest command to us is to love him. Mark 12:29
He tells us that to love him means to obey his commands or principles. John 14:15
God has given us his principles because he knows that the greatest chance we have for health and wholeness comes when we follow them.
Questions to Reflect On:
Are you addressing spiritual and emotional issues that may possibly be at the root of your sickness or disease?
Do you encourage your physician to help you look ‘inside’ at your heart issues in addition to the ‘outside’ physical symptoms?
This advertisement to the right has appeared in our local newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, several times in the last few weeks. Today it appeared in the Sports section. I imagine that the editors of the paper think that men will see the ad and show it to their wives and girlfriends so they might consider reshaping their image. Or, perhaps the women who browse through the section will see it and ponder how they might develop a better image – physically and emotionally.
The same ad appears in the current issue of Today’s Charlotte Woman magazine.
It’s so sad that this is par for the course in our society today. Women especially are bombarded with messages like this advertisement. Change your body and you’ll have a new self image. Looking like the women in ads like this will make you feel good about yourself and of your image as a woman. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Last night I had the privilege of leading a Bible study session for a group of 40 men involved in a transitional housing ministry that serves the poor and homeless. My message to them was that God wants them to base their personal identity on who they are in Christ and not on the messages that they might receive from the “world.”
My message to you women who happen to read this post is the same. God loves you. He sent his Son, Jesus, to die for your sins so that you might have a full life, now and for all eternity. If you have accepted Christ into your life, you now have right-standing with God. Once you were separated from him (because of the original sins of Adam and Eve), and now, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are reconnected with God and made right with him. Romans 5:12-17
In Romans 8:11-17, Paul reminds you that you are a child of God and in Ephesians 2:10 he tells you that you are his masterpiece, created to do good things that he has planned for you to do long ago.
I have a wife and a daughter who is a young adult. They are both as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. That’s the way God sees them and the way that I see them. I hate it that they, and all other women in our society, have to battle with the messages that the world sends them. It tears me up that women have to contend with these messages.
Women, you don’t have to have a perfect body to feel good about your self image as these ads suggest. If you’ll just believe that God loves you so much that he calls you his child and if you receive this love deep in your heart, your identity and your life can be changed forever. That’s what Romans 12:2 reminds us. You can be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
Women, I encourage you to place your heart and your soul in God’s hands and receive his great and powerful and transforming love through his Son, Jesus. Then, read and embrace the truths found in his guidebook for living – the Holy Bible.
Over the past few days I’ve been reflecting on how I might simplify the message I’ve been writing and speaking about. My thought has been that the more concise I can articulate this message, the easier it will be to explain to others and for them to understand. With that in mind, I thought I’d share this condensed version with you.
An Inspiring Day
As I’ve pulled this together, all my senses have been engaged. I’ve been sipping on a few cups of great tasting coffee, listening to the trickling of the water in our small fountain, hearing the birds chirp, listening to a playlist of soft, instrumental Christian music on iTunes, feeling the warm spring air as it breezes through an open window, and seeing the bright sun shine on the trees and flowers in the back yard. It’s been quite an inspiring morning and early afternoon!
Understanding the Faith and Health Connection
This is, I believe, the essence of the faith and health connection:
Perhaps I’ll begin to occasionally send along an inspirational song…… as a reminder of God’s love and to encourage you to stay close to him.
If you have any suggestions or favorites, I’d love to hear from you so that I can share them with others.
Have a terrific day!
“I pray that you … may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Paul in Ephesians 3:17-19
Do you love yourself? Do you really love yourself as God wants you to?
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he offered this.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind and strength, and love others as yourself.” (Mark 12:29-31) See also Matthew 19:18-19.
We can not love others in the manner God intends us to without loving ourselves in a God-honoring way. And, we are not able to sustain the types of habits God wants us to live by without this type of core, self-love that is received from God.
The love God wants us to have for ourselves is the agape-type love that God displayed for us when he sent his Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so that we might enjoy an eternal and abundant life. This is an unselfish - an unconditional type of love.
Many of us look to outward things and often resort to unhealthy often addictive behaviors in an effort to “feel good” about ourselves or to fill a very deep whole we have in our heart because we do not truly love ourselves. Some call this low self esteem. I think that God would say it’s because there is a deep root of low agape love of one’s self.
God loves you. His love is so wide and deep that you cannot measure it. (Ephesians 3:18-19) When a person accepts Jesus into her heart, God’s Holy Spirit begins to live in her. The more she turns her heart to God, believes in truths found in the Bible and surrenders herself to God, the greater the display of God’s love is present in her life. One such “fruit” is love, including a godly self-love.
The more the measure of self love we have, through the work of God’s Spirit, the more we are able to love others as God commands us. Additionally, the more love we have for ourselves, the more motivation and power we will have to make any desired behavior changes in our lives.
Maybe you desire to lose weight. Maybe you want to become more physically active. Or, perhaps you are challenged by an unhealthy addictive behavior that you’d like to stop. Agape self-love can be instrumental in providing the motivation to start these change of habits and in receiving the determination and power to continue with the new lifestyle.
This type of genuine agape love of yourself is best received from the God who created you. The best way I know to learn about God’s love is through spending time with him as I read the Bible and by praying to him in conjunction with that.
Questions to Ask Yourself (Consider commenting with your responses on this blog!)
Are you struggling with making behavior changes that have not been sustained?
Do you have a deep agape-type love of yourself that has been given to you by God?
Have you received the unconditional love that God has for you by accepting the love of his Son, Jesus
Training Materials – A workshop package to help share God’s love and his truths about the spirituality-health connection and equip others to make behavior changes.
This morning I visited a friend who is in the hospital the day after his surgery to remove his prostate. Mike and I were involved in a Bible study a few years ago. He was aware of my bout with prostate cancer over the the last few years so he called me several weeks ago when he learned about his positive biopsy and decision to have a da Vinci Prostatectomy. As was the case with me, early detection made all the difference in the world ensuring that his cancer was caught early on and had not spread to other organs. See these American Cancer Society guidelines.
Mike is doing well post surgery – praise God! This morning, he and I talked about the road that he’ll have ahead of him over the next few months. My prayer is that his next PSA test will be zero – an indication that there is no more cancer of that type – and that he will be spared the side effects of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
Although none of us wants to go through really tough times and health challenges in our life, the fact is that life will brings us those types of challenges. It’s neat to be able to come out the other side and to be able to support someone who is facing the same challenges that you’d experienced and weathered.
Over the year plus that I was in my battle, I posted many blog entries about prostate cancer so others might benefit. If you’ve got a friend or you yourself have learned that you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, perhaps what I shared here over that year may be of help. Mike told me today that reading my posts were helpful for him.
I thought I’d also share again a short article I wrote about how my faith was an anchor in my battle with the cancer in hopes it might be encouraging to some.
Our life on this earth is short. Live yours to the fullest in a God-honoring way!
It’s Friday, May 8th, 2009 and I’m suggesting that on Fridays, Twitterers share the love of God and Jesus using the #FaithFriday hashtag.
#FollowFriday
If you use Twitter much at all, you’ll know that four months ago Micah Baldwin came up with the idea that twitterers might promote someone to follow. According to Micah, “The idea is to think of interesting people you already follow and recommend them to others.” The idea caught on quickly and you can see the impact at this link.
#FaithFriday – The Concept
I’m suggesting that followers of Christ use a similar strategy to love on others and to share the gospel on Fridays….. and that we call it FaithFriday and that we use the hashtag #FaithFriday.
I’d encourage you to use your imagination… link to a good site or a blog entry, an article, share an affirmation, a scripture… anything that shares the love of Christ with others and that brings glory to God.
There are millions of people in the world who are hurting, in pain, stressed to the max and lost. They have no idea where they will spend eternity after they die. They have no peace or joy. On Fridays, we can use Twitter very intentionally to share the truth about our Savior and how people can find and experience the true Source of love, peace and joy.
#FaithFriday – A Few Scriptures to Share:
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus in John 3:16
“I have come that they might have life and life to the full.” Jesus in John 10:10
” Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19
#FaithFriday – Customized Tiny URLs to Use in Your Tweets
I have created a few customized “shortened” URLs with links to these respective URLs that you might consider copying and pasting into your tweets:
http://bit.ly/FaithFriday – to this blog post to help you share it with others so they can understand the concept.
http://tiny.cc/FollowJesus - to the verses in Matthew 4:18-20 where Jesus invites His disciples to follow Him.
http://tr.im/YFaithFriday – to Psalm 96:1-4 that reminds us to praise God and share the Good News with others.
If you create another helpful and unique “short” URL using Tinyurl.com or Tr.im or another url-shortener for use on FaithFriday, I encourage you to send it along to me and I’ll post it here.
In this video, a 13 year old cowboy tells us how much God loves you as he shares about how he had to put a horse to death.
Have you been sad because you’ve lost a loved one or a pet? Maybe you’re sad over a loss in your life now.
God understands… He gave His Son for you and for me. Be reminded of this as you watch this short video.
If you have not experienced and accepted God’s deep love by believing in His son Jesus but are ready to have His peace and joy you can do that now. Follow this link.
Are you worried? Anxious about something…. or your life? Research shows that chronic anxiety or worry can contribute to health problems.
Over the past few days I’ve been reflecting on how I might simplify the message I’ve been writing and speaking about. My thought has been that the more concise I can articulate this message, the easier it will be to explain to others and for them to understand. With that in mind, I thought I’d share this condensed version with you.
Do you love yourself? Do you really love yourself as God wants you to?
Let’s Connect!