Our Health

I cannot remember if it was brandy or whiskey but what I do recall was the toast spoken in Russian: “наше здоровье,”{1} pronounced, as best as I can remember, as nosstrobiya (nos-strobe-ih-yah). Its meaning is “our health.”

The last time I was tipsy with alcohol was December 1969. A month later I surrendered my life to Christ. Even before I officially joined the local Pentecostal church I felt it best to abstain from alcohol for my own sake and for the sake of others. The only time{2} I consume it is for a medicinal reason which is rare. Apart from over the counter products, over a decade ago I used heated dandelion wine for a cold, but after the last dose failed to make me sweat I gave up on it.

Coming to Christ made the Holy Bible come very much alive to me. After some time I realized there were passages that indicated in various ways that we could be more physically healthy by obeying the precepts of His Word. At some point while meditating upon that truth I found a new reason to say nosstrobiya: the Word of God. Proverbs 4:20-22 is one place in the Holy Bible that shows us God’s Word, whether written or spoken to our hearts, can become nosstrobiya (our health) in holiness unto all godliness.

Photograph is the property of the author who edited it, © 2013 Peter P. Macinta. Church photographer wants to remain anonymous.

I. God’s Voice – 20

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

Consider well that when we read the New Testament Christ often referred to God as “Father,” coupling the term numerous times with personal pronouns, viz., “my,” “your,” and “our.” Proverbs 4:1 encourages the reader to read, and thus hear,  the instruction of a father.  Hence, we can understand as we read that our heavenly Father is speaking to us.

Looking at this verse I must think of how Christ told the devil (Matthew 4:4), quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3 that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God. We consider the words of God as the Holy Bible in its ancient language and the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts. I always try to clarify the latter by saying that whatever we sense is spoken to us must be in agreement with the written Word of God. These are our very spiritual life.

II. Our Vigil  - 21

Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

Volumes could be written as to why the Word of God is so precious to the true disciple. An extremely important point is that His Word is designed to lead us into Eternal Life. Therefore it must constantly be in our mind and applied to every situation. Our life should be impelled by the same priorities Christ had. A great focus of ours should be that we would come into Eternal Life, and bring others with us.

Depending upon its context, I usually equate “heart” in the Holy Scriptures with our spirit, which I consider to be the center of our being though it permeates throughout us. It is written in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Treasuring His Word in our mind and spirit will help us to say no to temptations and attempts to get us off The Way of Life.

III. Our Vitality – 22 

For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh

Both spiritual and physical blessing is mentioned in this verse and I would like to take the physical first saving the spiritual last for emphasis.

Salvation involves one’s entire being, even their body.  I fully believe just reading or hearing the written Word of God has beneficial affect on our physical being. So does obeying it.  One example in regard to disobedience is found not too far from Proverbs 4 where we can read what happens when a man yields to an adulterous woman. In regard to the rewards of obedience one passage among many can be found in Daniel 1 where Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah fared much better than others because they adhered to the Word of God.

We also see in this verse that one has a vibrant, meaningful life by treasuring and obeying the Word of God. One is empowered physically and spiritually to do God’s bidding. Christ, the LIfe (John 14:6), increases as we decrease. His works replaces ours, and His works reap eternal blessings for us and others.

Notice the word “find” in the first part of the verse. This would imply we do some diligent seeking. Daily we should seek to go deeper in Christ.

Whether it is His written or spoken Word, we should determine to discover how God wants us to apply what we have heard from Him.

Above all, we should endeavor to keep hearing and obeying, focusing upon and treasuring, His Word. His Word includes Christ Himself, without Whom no one can have Eternal Life.

Notes:

{1} Translation to Russian was by Google Translate.

{2} I do use a little mouthwash to seep down my throat when I think I need to combat a virus.

This article is a form of a message (sermon) outline. God willing, you will find links to the actual message (sermon) sometime hopefully by January 29, 2013 at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M229 .

Holy Scripture, unless otherwise noted, is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The NKJV text was copied from http://www.biblegateway.com.

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