The Bible Speaks to You August 16, 1969 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of August 8-14 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over more than 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 384 - Take Good Care of Yourself

with contributions from Robert McKinnon, Jack Krieger

[The speaker is Jack Krieger. The questioner is Robert McKinnon.]

Questioner: Many people feel that they know very well what to do to take care of themselves—proper food, good rest, cleanliness, checkups, exercise. All these things require a kind of continuous regimen. Many times we don't always follow through. Then we may turn to something to make up for it—pills, gadgets, health foods. I suppose what we really need is more willpower.
Speaker: Certainly it is important for us to take good care of ourselves. But this care is not superficial. There are moral and spiritual dimensions involved. Something much more reliable than the use of willpower is needed.
Questioner: What exactly do you mean?
Speaker: Actually, health—physical, mental, and moral—is not something we can will or create in and of ourselves. The Bible indicates that there's much more to health than outward appearances. The source of health is God, infinite Spirit. The Psalmist spoke of God as "the health of my countenance" (Ps. 42:11). Health, then, is not a matter of creating well-being through willpower. It's really a matter of learning to acknowledge God as the source of health and its everlasting preserver. This demands a change of thought, yielding up fear, hate, and unwholesome thinking, which would obscure or deny our relationship to God.

Questioner: In other words, you're saying that there's even more to health than food and sleep and so forth.
Speaker: Infinitely more. This approach may sound unusual, but the close relationship of keeping well physically, mentally, and morally was emphasized centuries ago by the Master, Christ Jesus. He taught that health is inward— spiritual and moral. Contrary to the very precise health theories of his day, he said (Mark 7:15), "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." What the individual says and, as a result, what he does have a marked effect upon his health—more than anything that he could eat or confer upon himself in a material way.