Maintaining Optimal Health

By Brian Pusateri | July 9, 2023 | | Share on Facebook

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Health care is big business. Hospitals and doctors advertise on billboards, and pharmaceutical companies and nutritional supplement companies bombard us with TV commercials. Maintaining optimal health is important. It’s even more important to keep our souls healthy.

Health care is also expensive. In 2021, Americans spent an average of $12,900 per person maintaining their health. This is one of the highest per person costs in the world. The fact remains, that no matter how much we spend trying to maintain our body, one day we will die.

Our soul, on the other hand, will live forever. The Bible is quite clear that we will either spend eternity with God in Heaven or we will spend eternity in a state of damnation in hell. If we spend a fortune each year trying to maintain our bodies, knowing they will eventually return to dust and decay, how much should we spend on our soul that will live forever?

Medical experts tell us that exercise, routine screenings and exams, and a good diet, are needed for optimal health. They also tell us that friends play a significant role in promoting our overall health. The same four things are essential for our spiritual wellbeing.

EXERCISE

Prayer, fasting, alms giving, and scripture study are some of the ways we exercise our soul. Do we do these exercises frequently enough?

SCREENINGS AND EXAMINATIONS

Routine annual physicals and specific screening procedures help to catch problems before they get worse. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of interest in colon cleansing. Colon cleansing was touted by some as a miracle cure to rid the toxins out of our bodies. However, a statement on a Mayo Clinic website states, “there’s no evidence that colon cleansing produces these effects or is beneficial at all.”

Even though colon cleansing may not be beneficial and may even be harmful, soul cleansing is essential! Soul cleansing is a vital part of our spiritual health. Is there a miracle cure to cleanse the toxins from our soul? Yes! The answer is found in James 5:16. It states, “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” The regular and frequent confession of sins does for the soul what routine medical screenings do for the body. Confession catches spiritual illnesses before they get worse. Are we overdue for a spiritual cleansing?

HEALTHY DIET

Good Christian books, podcasts, retreats, and pilgrimages are just some of the ways we can provide nutritional supplements for our soul. Is our spiritual diet in need of improvement? Are we spending adequate money on these types of spiritual treatment plans?

HELP FROM OTHERS

Sometimes when we experience health issues, we need the help of others. Nine years ago, when I suddenly lost my eyesight, I needed the help of my wife and my daughter who is a nurse, to take me to the hospital for care. The doctors at Duke Medical Center not only discovered my rare disease, but they also discovered an effective treatment plan to slow the progression of my illness.

Likewise, in Matthew 9:1-8 the paralytic man needed care. His friends brought him to the care of the Great Physician. They lowered him on his mat down to Jesus. Not only did Jesus restore the man’s spiritual health by forgiving his sins, He also granted him the miracle of walking again.

Do you need the help of others? Perhaps, right now God is attempting to reach out to us through our Christian friends to heal us from some spiritual illness or addiction. Will we allow Him to work through our friends? Or perhaps Jesus wants to work through us to provide a miracle in someone’s life. Is Jesus calling us right now to be the one to reach out to help someone else with their spiritual struggles? Have we ever, figuratively speaking, carried someone to Jesus?

Maintaining optimal care for our soul is essential. Knowing that we spend thousands of dollars maintaining our physical health, we should all ask ourselves this important question: not counting the amount we tithe to our church or give to other charitable causes, how much money and how much time do we spend annually on ourselves maintaining the health of our soul?

If we don’t spend enough money and time maintaining our optimal spiritual health now while we have a chance to do so, we will have eternity to think about the consequences.

Heavenly Father, Your Son is the great physician and I am in dire need of His care. Send your Holy Spirit to guide and direct me to these four sources of spiritual care. Grant me the wisdom to not neglect my spiritual wellbeing. Help me to seek out the care that  assures me of eternal life with you. Amen. 

AMDG

As always, I love to hear from you. You can email by clicking here. To share your thoughts with other readers, please use the comment section below.

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Brian Pusateri
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2 Comments

  1. Thomas Heghmann on July 12, 2023 at 7:22 am

    “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should
    always pray and not give up…”
    Luke 18:1

    Thank you Brian,

    Reply

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