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radiant health

HEALTH IS A TREASURE. Of all our possessions it is the most precious. Wealth, learning, and honor are dearly purchased at the loss of vigor and health. None of these can secure happiness if health is lacking.

It is possible to be as vital and alive at 61 as at 16. We can arise each morning with renewed vigor and strength, bubbling over with enthusiasm and energy. We can enjoy each day to its fullest. This is not done with a magic potion or some will-o'-the-wisp fountain of youth, but is possible through carefully applying the simple basic principles that we will be studying. As you come to understand them more clearly, the challenge will be to decide how to put them to work effectively. Each discovery becomes a key that opens a treasure chest full of the riches of life.

Health is not a game of chance
Some people think that health is like a game of chance—that "when your number comes up" you will die. Others conceive of length of life as preordained—"when the finger of Fate points at you" life is over. But science demonstrates, and the Bible teaches, that no finger of Fate points at us. If I contract lung cancer as the result of smoking cigarettes I can't blame it on Fate—inhaling the 29-plus poisons in cigarette smoke killed me. If I indulge often in fat-rich foods, it's FAT not FATE that clogged my arteries.

We live in an orderly universe that is subject to the law of cause and effect. If you throw a stone off a cliff the law of gravity will make it fall. If you stand in the rain you will get wet. When the key is turned in the ignition the car will start. If it does not, there is a reason. This law is also true of our health. It is sometimes hard to see the cause and effect relationship between the laws of health and the consequences of disregarding them, simply because the effects are not immediate. But the day of reckoning will come. The decisions and actions of today have a serious impact on the future. Even smoking two packs of cigarettes a day doesn.t cause lung cancer or emphysema in one week. Too often this lack of immediate effects causes us to conclude that there are no effects, and we end up living for today at the expense of tomorrow.

We bring disease on ourselves
The more scientific evidence that comes in, the more indication there is that we bring many of our diseases upon ourselves. To a large degree sickness and disease are caused by poor health habits. We could live much longer if our lifestyles did not lead to life-shortening illnesses. We now know that heart disease, cancer, and stroke are largely preventable. Habits such as smoking, drinking, and overindulging in high-fat high-cholesterol foods bring us to the grave before our time.

"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7).

Learn to cooperate with your body. It has been endowed with the capacity to resist disease, and does it well when not hindered by unhealthy lifestyle habits. Practice what is good, and avoid what is harmful; give your body every advantage in its endeavor to stay healthy and well.

Nature, unhindered, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the rewards in health of mind and body.



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Created: 12/19/01 Updated: 5/12/04