The health care community is so excited, aren’t they?  Millions of aging “Boomers” have now arrived in their late sixties to claim their hard-earned social security with maybe a small pension from work to survive on as they age.  But what is of most concern, we are now a “gold mine” for those in the medical community!

There are now billions to be made from boomers with constantly evaluating every part of our physical bodies looking for ways to build their medical practices, grow lucrative insurance agencies, along with other side companies for the “aging”.  Millions are spent on commercials to entice to take more drugs that will keep us healthy.  Drug companies advertise to be the “sure fix” for any problem that might ail us.  I say “us” because I am a boomer.  My husband is a boomer.  We are literally harassed daily by insurance companies, medical laboratories, business people in the health care industry trying to get our “business” because they “care.” Sigh.

Mm, I wonder what would happen in this world if believers paid this much serious attention to what the most important health issue is of all –our spiritual health!  Jesus addresses this issue with a diagnosis:  Work all that I have said to you into your daily thinking and behaviors. Don’t be dumb and act like you’re doing it, seriously do it.  God looks at the heart—we aren’t fooling Him, friends!

Reread all of Luke 6 for the prescription for robust spiritual health!  Here is the “capstone” as Jesus closes his words that give life!

Luke 6, The Message

Work the Words into Your Life

^43-45 “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

^46-47 “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

^48-49 “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

THE FOUNDATION

Begin with believing Jesus died to save us from our sins and rose from the grave to defeat death which gives life eternal to all who repent of their sins.  This is the foundation to build on for healthy living.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) NO ONE on earth can provide abundant, robust living that leads to eternal life –no matter how hard this world tries to tell us they can. 

THE ”DO’S”

So many times, the world thinks the emphasis is made only on the don’ts: “don’t do this, it’s for your own good”. Jesus goes beyond what the world considers “good” to what pleases God who is good.  It’s all about God.

We change how we behave, something we cannot do ourselves, but because of who Jesus is in us as His Holy Spirit works on us.  The enticement to do what the world does fades in comparison to living out the words of Jesus.  All of this begins with heart check.  Whatever is in our hearts controls our thinking which results in how we behave. 

Don’t be dumb, says Jesus, be smart!  Work Jesus’ words of Truth into our lives.  It all begins with a new heart and then flows to our minds and fills our souls.  When Jesus guides all we think, do, and say, our spiritual life brims with health!  Our new way of thinking becomes a new way of living.  It becomes a habit to:

• Love our enemies.
• Do good to those who hurt or offend us.
• To gift wrap our best and give that to those who take from us.
• Pray for those who give us a hard time.
• Practice serving more than expecting to be served.
• Do for others without thought of receiving anything in return.
• Live generously. 
• Love extravagantly. 
• Forgive completely as Jesus forgives us.

Lord,

Thank you for reminding us that to know, but not do, is not knowing at all!  Cleanse our hearts, renew and transform our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today and restore the joy that gives peace of your salvation at work within us. Change me, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen