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Health According to the
Scriptures - Environment
Our health and joy can
only be as good as our environment.
In this week’s lesson
from the Torah, Yahweh tells Moses “Command the people of Israel to remove
from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or discharge, or who has become
ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person.” Numbers 5:1
If we let unhealthy or unholy people hang around us long enough, we can
catch their diseases, or even worse, we can start to think like them.
Unhealthy and unholy thinking is just as bad for our health as unrighteous
or unhealthy living. The issue in this week’s Torah is not about a
contagious disease; it’s about why the person got the skin disease in the
first place. All disease is in one-way or another, the result of not being
obedient to Yahweh’s instructions. Not being righteous and holy.
No matter how far we stray or how sick we have become as a result of our
straying, if we repent, Yahweh will always take us back. But He will give
us the time we need to think about what we have to do. That is the only true
way to repent. It is not a quick “I’m sorry.” Sometimes we have to suffer as
a result of our actions to help us grow. The punishment in this week’s Torah
might seem like it was a disease of the skin, but the real punishment was
taking a person who gossiped away from the people to be alone. It is very
painful for a person who loves to spread gossip not to have anyone to talk
to.
Sometimes people have to be alone to realize and take responsibility of the
result they caused in their life and others. I remember when I was sick with
Ulcerated Colitis. I would always blame everyone else. One day, when I was
on my bathroom floor crying “Why me?” I realized my actions of not being
obedient to Yahweh’s diet instructions played a huge part in my sickness. I
didn’t even know what his instructions were at the time. The real issue was
that I didn’t care to learn or know Yahweh’s health instructions and
guidelines.
Yahweh commanding for us to be alone is not really a punishment, but
sometimes it is a blessing. It helps us not cause more damage to others and
ourselves. It also gives us the time to reflect on the damage we have
created and what we can do to make things right again with our health both
physically and righteously.
On a daily basis, renew your mind. Understand that each day is a new day.
Yesterday is the past; all that matters today is today. We are called to be
obedient children in holy living 1 Peter 13.
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