Healthy Heart Matters

            The Mayo Clinic has some simple advice regarding a healthy heart: eat well and exercise regularly. You need both. You cannot compensate for a bad diet by exercising more. I have jokingly said that I like to run in order to eat the desserts I like. Well, a health person on television this week said the body does not work that way. The point is, you really need both.

I have come across many statistics. I will not bore you with them. For example, in 2006, 631,636 people died of heart disease. Heart disease caused 26% of deaths—more than one in every four—in the United States.¹ White people die of heart disease at a greater rate than either African-Americans, Asians, or Native Americans. Death rates due to the heart are highest in Mississippi and lowest in Minnesota. Lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels can reduce all forms of heart issues. The greatest risk factors involve inactivity, obesity, and high blood pressure, while smoking and high cholesterol are lower on the list. Finally, you put yourself at more risk when you do not eat breakfast.

            Your heart is an important muscle. I guess the point of all this is to care for the heart, and you will care for your whole body.

All of this stimulated some thinking on my part about preachers and teachers within the Christian tradition referring to the “heart.” At least one way to think of the heart spiritually is to think of getting to the “heart” of the matter. What ought to be the core beliefs and values that guide my life? What will I do with my life in terms of a vocation? Most of us want our work to be something we genuinely enjoy and toward which have some passion. What is that for me, at this stage in my life? Such questions deal with the heart spiritually, and a good response will have a positive influence upon your whole life.

            Such spiritual questions are weighty. May is a month for confirmation and graduation. Many young people wonder what they will do their lives. For me several decades after such graduation moments, it makes me think of what I have done with my life, and what I will do with the rest of it. These are weighty questions, and I hope among those we ask our young people.

Just as we can do things that endanger the heart physically, we can do things that endanger the heart spiritually. It will threaten your ability to be a follower of Christ. Medicine has been helpful in saying that a proper diet and exercise will be the type of self-care you need for a healthy physical heart. Being a follower of Jesus addresses the heart of the matter spiritually.

What I want us to focus upon is what we can do to heed this command of Jesus: Do let your hearts be troubled.

Let us be honest: Is it even possible, as follower of Jesus in an extremely screwed-up world, to heed his command and have an untroubled heart? Really?

I have come across a few bits of wisdom about worry.

 

I have developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time. -Charlie Brown.

As printed in a church bulletin: Don't let worry kill you - let the church help.

 

Some suggestions on how to keep from worrying:

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles ... by the ears, by the heels or any other way you can manage it. -Mark Twain.
For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.
-Author unknown.

 

These words are some wise counsel for gaining perspective on what worries us.

 

            In John 14:1-14, we read of Jesus advising his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled. These are powerful words, often said in a funeral setting. Yes, the threat of life ending is always present.  Yet, that does not get to the heart of the matter spiritually. The threat of never becoming what we could be, the twin threats of emptiness and lack of meaning, are always present as well. As Kierkegaard put it in The Concept of Anxiety (1844), too many rush headlong into life, continuing to rush forward, and yet, never find life. In fact, he says, the rush of a modern life does not give one pause to reflect upon matters related to meaning. In fact, if we are not careful, we will say “goodnight to all meaning in life.” If this was true in the time Kierkegaard, it is true at a greater level today.

Well, if such advice from the Mayo Clinic is good advice for the physical heart, maybe we can apply it to the spiritual heart. What would it mean for us if we had a good diet and exercise program spiritually?

            Today, followers of Jesus have a healthy spiritual diet by making Scripture and being with the people of God a regular part of what we spiritually consume. Of course, time is precious. The temptation to feed our minds and fulfill our need for companionship in other ways is large. Yet, Christ has said that he prepares a place for us in the house of the Father and that he will not leave us as orphans. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is present.

            Today, followers of Jesus need to find ways of exercising their faith. Faith, far from being inward, longs for outward expression. The exercise of our faith occurs when it influences every facet of our lives. We have not divided the sacred and the secular. We have exercised our faith when our faith influences every aspect of our lives. We need to give some time in reflection as to how this is happening now and how it can happen at deeper and broader levels. The exercise of our faith may need to expand in family, in relationships, in the church, or in the community. If we are to do greater works than Jesus (verse 12), what will they be?

            Eating well and exercising is not just good for the physical heart. It applies to the spiritual heart as well.