Tame the Beast, or it Will Kill You

"Ray, if my kid gets sick should I take him to the doctors? Or would that be interfering with the work of your God in his life?" Rauol Rheits

It was the wisdom of Solomon that said that a merry heart does good "like a medicine" (see Proverbs 17:22). So medicines are good.

Here’s what we would do when our kids were young and became sick. We would pray for them, and take them to the doctor if it was more than a minor complaint. If the doctor saw fit to put him in the hospital, we would pray even more--that God would give wisdom to the doctors, because hospitals have become very dangerous places. Around 40,000 people die on roads in the United States each year. However, a massive 200,000 people die in hospitals because of medical mistakes and infections. That means that in ten years two million people die while in the care of our medical professionals. That’s frightening.

One way to keep out of hospitals is to control our appetite (see Proverbs 23:2), to cultivate the virtue of self control (see 2 Peter 1:5-7). There are many serious complications and terrible diseases that result in an untimely death, that come with obesity. An incredible 58 million Americans are overweight, while 40 million are obese, and three million morbidly obese. No wonder our health care system is overloaded.

By the way, obesity is not caused genetically as some maintain. Neither is it a disease (although some medical conditions cause weight gain). When the Americans liberated those who were in concentration camps in 1945, there were no obese people. They were all skinny. Obesity is caused by self-indulgence--by eating too much food or by eating the wrong food. A good rule to live by for healthy living, is: "If God created it (vegetables, fruit, etc.), eat it. If man has messed with it, read the label, carefully."

Another key to staying out of hospitals is to realize that you should cleanse yourself (particularly your hands) under running water, to keep free from diseases. This is what the Bible instructed the Jews to do thousands of years before science discovered its importance (see Leviticus 15:13). It’s God’s instruction book on how to live this life, and how to get to the next. Don’t ignore it.