The Bible and your health (1)

‘A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body.’
Proverbs 14:30 NLT

In the last half century, doctors have come to understand and emphasise the correlation between mental and physical health. Yet the Bible talked about it over three thousand years ago when King Solomon gave us these four proverbs: 1) ‘A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.’ 2) ‘A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health’ (Proverbs 15:30 NLT). 3) ‘Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body’ (Proverbs 16:24 NLT). 4) ‘A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength’ (Proverbs 17:22 NLT). These Scriptures could be summed up like this: a faith-filled attitude (focusing on what’s good instead of what’s bad), laughter (the ability to rejoice), and spoken words of encouragement have a profound effect on your health (and the health of those around you). What’s the antidote for stress? Serenity! What’s the remedy for fear? Faith! And where do serenity and faith come from? God! David was in bad shape when he wrote, ‘I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave?”’ (Psalm 30:8-9 NLT). We don’t know whether he was stressed-out mentally, or if he was physically ill. But God intervened, and later in the same psalm David wrote, ‘You have turned my mourning into…dancing. You have…clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent’ (vv. 11-12 NLT). There’s no doubt about it – your thinking has a profound effect on your health!

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