Article December 13, 1999 Issue

How to prevent illness

Feeling and reflecting God's love is good for your health.

By Elise L. Moore

It wasn't always so, but on this occasion I was patient and kind with my little brother. We were playing a board game, and I was encouraging him, helping him make better moves, and was sweet to him (as my mother would say). At the beginning of the game, I was developing symptoms of a cold. By the end of the game, the symptoms were entirely gone. My mother noticed the entire sequence of events. She pointed out to me that my expression of love had prevented the illness. Where divine Love is expressed, sickness has no foothold.

Love is a Scriptural name for God (see I John 4:8) that indicates God's protecting, saving nature. It was the power of divine Love that protected Paul from a viper's venomous bite (see Acts 28:3–5). Paul's immunity resulted from his Christianity and his expression of God as Love.

What an extraordinary concept—that physical illness can be prevented by letting divine Love uplift one's thought and be expressed. Usually, preventing disease is discussed in terms of diet and exercise. There's a magazine entitled Prevention that I've thumbed through at the grocery checkout in my city. Recipes, articles on medical checkups, and food recommendations abound throughout its pages. Positive attitude is also acknowledged as helpful, so long as physical steps are taken. However, the implication is that one prevents illness by following the latest physical health theories. The body is seen as a compound of chemicals. Logically, from this premise, only chemical substances would prevent illness, and consciousness would have little practical effect.

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