A Merry Heart
In his book “None of These Diseases,” Dr. S. I. McMillen says that mental stress has taken the center of attention away from bacteria as the believed cause of disease. He explains that emotions cause visible changes in the body, such as strokes, blindness, toxic goiters, fatal clots in the heart, bleeding ulcers, kidney disease and other serious conditions.
Isn’t it interesting that the Bible is always far ahead of the discoveries of the scientific world? Job wrote of the world being suspended in space (26:7). Isaiah spoke of the roundness of the earth (40:22). Moses revealed that the life principle is in the blood (Leviticus 17: 11). We should not be surprised then to find that God’s Word has again upstaged medical science in announcing that the state of the heart affects the general health — “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Christians have good reason to be merry — happy — rejoicing. The most important issues of life have been settled for the child of God. He knows why he is here — the purpose of existence — and where he is going. His sins are forgiven, he is never alone and his destination is certain — heaven. Nevertheless, some who have become citizens of heaven become defeated and depressed. That is when they are not living as God intended.
How sad to have our bodies suffer from bad mental and heart attitudes when we are children of the King. Let’s remember who we are and what we have. It’s just good sense — and good medicine!