Isn't it time we recaptured the zest, the bubbling energy and radiant health intended by the Creator?
LOOK AROUND you especially at the people, their faces, their eyes, their bodies. How many radiate an energetic zest and joy for life? How many have well-formed faces, are strong and vibrant?
What about you?
Are you bubbling over with energy and enthusiasm? Are you free from pain and sickness? Do you have the drive and consistent good health to lead, to produce, to accomplish — to fulfill the purpose of your life successfully?
Make no mistake!
Poor health can adversely affect your job, your marriage, your social life — everything!
Your bodily health greatly affects your drive and zeal — even in spiritual matters. It affects your warmth and friendliness — your whole personality. You simply cannot afford to remain sick or "below par" most of the time. You need to find the cause of sickness and the WAY to build radiant health.
Cause of Illness
People do not just happen to get sick! There is a cause for every effect. And there is a definite cause for all sickness, disease and physical suffering that is so common in this modern world.
Why, then, are so many sick today?
We find the answer where most people have never looked. Right in your own Bible. There you will read, in I John 3:4, that sin is the transgression of law. That's the Bible definition of sin. Spiritual sin is the transgression of God's spiritual law, the law of love summed up in the Ten Commandments. But there are physical laws, too, that regulate physical health. If you break these laws, or if they are accidentally broken, it is a transgression of law — and a penalty is exacted. The penalty is sickness — or physical suffering of some kind.
When Jesus Christ healed the sick, it was the forgiveness of physical sin. Notice how Jesus healed a man sick of the palsy (Luke 5:18-26). He said to the sick man on the bed, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." Read this account carefully. In healing the man, Jesus forgave the physical sins that had caused the palsy.
The cause of sickness is the transgression of physical laws that God has set in motion to govern the operation of our human bodies. These laws are just as real as the law of gravity, and the penalty for breaking them is just as sure.
God has left it up to man to discover most of these laws. But God does reveal the basic principles we should go by, and, in addition, He specifically reveals those laws governing health which we would not otherwise be able to learn. (See, for example, Lev. 3:17)
Yes, God does wish us all to "prosper and be in health" (III John 2). And through the apostle Paul, He commands us to "glorify God in our bodies."
Using the health principles in God's revealed Word as a guide, and utilizing the results of man's observation and research into this subject, we can learn the definite laws that govern our physical health. By really understanding and obeying these laws, we can build the kind of radiant health that will enable us to live the kind of full, active and joyful lives that God intended.
There is no excuse for feeling and being only half alive! The mounting rate of sickness, suffering and death clearly shows that this world has lost the way to health — the way to live. We need to learn how to really live!
What, then are these physical laws that affect our bodies — and our lives — so much?
1) Build a POSITIVE Mental Attitude
One of the least understood factors governing health is the profound effect that the mind has upon the body. A large part of the common ailments of mankind are caused not so much by the body, as by the mind. Ulcers, indigestion, headaches, eyestrain, nervousness and a host of other ailments are often found to be directly caused by the condition of the mind, not the body.
Physical nourishment and care alone are not enough. God inspired Solomon to write in Proverbs 15:17: "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
Haven't you known families who engage in a- "free-for-all-battle" during nearly every meal? Perhaps they are ignorant of the fact that fighting, nagging and quarreling at the table are almost certain to cause nervous indigestion and other ailments.
Few people today have the sense of contentment and real peace of mind upon which good health is predicated. They need to learn to relax, and to put living faith in God to guide them in solving the little problems that plague so many people.
This first requirement of good health is something that people who reject the knowledge of God can never fully hope to achieve. They may go to physicians and to psychologists and psychiatrists with their mental ills and fears. But it is God alone who can give real peace of mind. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). And again, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones" (Prov. 17:22).
Jesus said, we are to take no anxious thought for the morrow, but put faith in God for each day as it comes. Nearly all the really successful people in the world have a forward-looking, positive, enthusiastic approach to life. They dwell on what can be accomplished rather than on bad or depressing news, or on problems that "can't" be solved. Consciously or unconsciously, they build this attitude into their lives.
The apostle Paul said: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). Learn to become a "can do" person. Learn to be enthusiastic and positive about life. Learn not to allow your mind to dwell on negative or depressing thoughts.
You must learn to be in control of your thoughts. By building a positive and enthusiastic attitude, you will be building a major part of the foundation for radiant health.
2) Food and Fasting
We are what we eat. The body is formed from the foods we eat. Yet the average person has very little knowledge of what he really ought to eat to build a strong, vigorous body.
If the foods most of us eat were fed to a rat, the rat would soon die of starvation! Why? Many of the products commonly called foods are of little value in sustaining, nourishing or building the body. They often clog the digestive system, aggravate it and become a real burden for the body to eliminate. In many cases, they act as if they are poisons — not foods!
The basic thing to remember in selecting foods is to be sure you eat as natural foods as possible that have been altered as little as possible in man-made "food" factories.
Take care that your food is properly prepared so as not to destroy the body-building elements. Avoid starchy, greasy, sugary concoctions that may taste good at the moment, but that contain little of nutritional value and will in time wreck your stomach.
Remember the principle that your foods should be natural foods — as God caused them to grow or be formed in nature. These could include genuine whole grain breads (without preservatives added) and cereals, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables — cooked at low temperatures so as to preserve their nutritional value, lean meats cooked without excess grease or fat, and dairy products — including certified raw milk when possible.
Few people fully realize the con-sequences caused by such "refined" or "improved" products as white bread, white sugar, canned and heavily sweetened fruits and vegetables and pasteurized milk, when these are substituted for the natural products that God intended as food. So eat a balanced diet of natural foods. And learn to prepare all foods so as not to destroy their nutritional value.
Under the heading of diet, we should also consider the health value of water. Pure drinking water and plenty of it is one of the greatest aids to eliminating body poisons and keeping the entire system clean. It is an aid in preventing or overcoming constipation — that source of so many bodily ills. Doctors have commonly recommended a person drink six or so glasses of pure water every day — preferably between meals. Never use it to wash your food down.
Greatly restricting one's diet is known as fasting. The practice of fasting as a health measure is as old as the human race. Every animal when sick will refuse to eat. It loses all appetite. Governed by its instincts, it fasts until it is well — a sure cure provided by nature.
But what about humans?
Doctors and dieticians agree that we humans are in the habit of eating more food than our bodies require. If food is used in excess of bodily needs, it's bound to produce a clogging up of the vital processes, for if it is not needed it is invariably harmful and becomes productive of causes that lead to sickness and disease.
The greatest number of sicknesses are caused by the presence of a poison in the bloodstream. Fasting enables the body to cleanse itself of the accumulation of the products of an imperfect diet. As food intake is retarded, elimination proceeds rapidly and the body is truly "housecleaning" itself.
For many, many common sicknesses such as colds, headaches, fevers and stomach distress, fasting is an effective and often the only natural cure.
In a strictly health fast, water only should be taken, or, in some cases, fruit juices may be taken to provide necessary strength.
Jesus Christ said His disciples would fast (Mark 2:18-20). Fasting is not only a good spiritual practice, but it is a marvelous natural means of preserving health. Consult a physician, however, before undertaking any lengthy fast.