Health guidelines that won't disappoint

If you’ve spent extra time at the market reading nutrition labels to keep your family in good health, put a lot of effort into reforming your eating habits because of warnings from a doctor or health experts, or constantly battled weight gain with low-fat diets because of fear of hereditary conditions, you are certainly not alone.

And if you have hoped that changing your diet alone was enough, you might be among those who now feel confused and discouraged by a report published early this year. A well-designed federal study whose purpose was “to confirm popular hypotheses about the protective effect of [a low-fat] diet” against two types of cancer and heart disease, could not do so (Gina Kolata, “Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks, Study Finds,” The New York Times, February 8, 2006).

This report and others like it may leave us asking, “Now what do I do?” If you seek good health, don’t despair. There are trustworthy answers.

More than a century ago, Mary Baker Eddy—who struggled with long-term illness—tackled these very issues. In her own quest for health, she investigated every possible, plausible remedy available. Traditional medicine, dietary regimes of various kinds, and alternative systems all eventually failed her.

Perhaps not coincidently, as human options repeatedly fell apart, her deep, abiding love for God drew her closer to her Bible and to spiritual solutions. Mrs. Eddy ultimately found answers in the life, healing works, and teachings of Christ Jesus.

When she herself was healed, she suspected it was not a one-time experience; there were laws supporting Jesus’ healing work. As she delved more deeply into the Bible to discern its spiritual message of healing, she realized that what Jesus did could be imitated, practiced, and proved over and over again.

Mrs. Eddy shared the health and life system she discovered with the world. She named it Christian Science and she wrote a textbook that explains these laws of God. It’s called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

She no longer used the other methods with which she’d experimented, because at the core of her discovery was the realization that we are not the material beings we appear to be, but are entirely spiritual. Naturally, her focus shifted from material remedies, including diet, to the benign influence of spiritual reasoning and prayer.

Such prayer begins by recognizing God as not only all powerful, but also infinitely kind and caring. It’s not a pleading for God to intervene in our lives in extreme occasions of need, but an acknowledgement that we are actually God’s creation, which He loves continuously. God is not removed from our daily needs, but supplies them. We are inseparable from Him.

These ideas can be found specifically in Christ Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, an important underpinning of the teachings of Christian Science. Here, the Master tenderly taught, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Jesus wasn’t suggesting reckless abandonment of daily care, but rather assuring people that God, the all-knowing and divine Mind, knows our needs. God guarantees us well-being and health when we open our thought to His laws of Life. A correlative sentence in Science and Health explains it this way: “The divine Mind, which forms the bud and blossom, will care for the human body, even as it clothes the lily; but let no mortal interfere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of erring, human concepts.”

One of these erroneous concepts is that food is a power that can either help or harm us. In one of Mrs. Eddy’s discussions on food, diet, and health, she boldly concludes: “The fact is, food does not affect the absolute Life of man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that God is our Life.”

The basis for this statement is that God, Spirit, is All. God affects our lives, but only gives good, never evil or punishment. We are created by Him and are spiritual. We are His image.

God does not share His power with material factors, like food. He is the maintainer of the entire universe. Everything about us is determined by this all-good God, divine Life. By putting God first, we are receptive to the wisdom, balance, and order that God provides us in our daily decisions, even regarding what to eat and what weight we give it.

The message Christ Jesus delivered to humanity from God is for all time. And the Christ, the divine messenger, repeatedly broadcasts assurance, love, security, and health to us right now. It tells us we needn’t be afraid because health is a spiritual quality, and it’s included in the make-up of the spiritual manhood and womanhood established in us by God. It’s not dependent on changing human beliefs or studies. Because health is a quality of God, it is not variable.

All the intricacies of our daily lives, including the things we may believe we are responsible for, are actually in God’s hands. Each of us has the right to turn to God, to listen to God, and to respond to His present and practical care. We do have a protector against all ills. Truth is this remedy, and this truth reveals to us our spiritual unity with divine Love. Our keeper is God, and He is keeping us safe and healthy. There is nothing too mundane for His attention, nor is there anything more important to the loving God than the well-being of His cherished children. As we begin to trust this, we see and feel more and more of this divine care.

Divine source of health:

Science and Health
62:22  
388:22-24  
197:21  
220:1-223:6  
388:12-390:3

 
King James Bible
Matt. 6:25 (to .)  
Ps. 121:5