Cardiovascular Disease

Do you know February is American Heart Month? This heart has nothing to do with the Valentine. It is about your heart health. Cardiovascular disease accounts for 1 in 4 deaths in America. February is almost over, have you taken it to your heart, I mean, taking actions for your heart? It is not that hard, all you need to do is aerobic exercise plus a healthy diet. Yet it is not easy, because you need to do that not just for a day, but for a life time. It is the endurance and self-discipline that make it hard.

Heart health is not only important for our physical wellbeing, but spiritual life as well. The Bible warned us, ²³Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Prov. 4:23 ESV) Here, the heart refers not to the physical organ inside our chest. It refers to the mental state that encompasses all our thought, mind, emotion, and will. Like the physical organ, our heart moves and drives us forward like an engine does. If it breaks down, life as we know it will come to a sudden halt. Many people have made the right decision after they heard the gospel, but few have persevered and grown up as a vibrant Christian. Those who are lost along the way, mostly suffered from spiritual malnutrition and love of this world, and died from spiritual cardiovascular disease.

Spiritual healthy diet comes from the Word of God, as it is written, ¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, (Jer. 15:16 ESV) All the secular entertainment shows and gossip columns are junk food, sweet in the mouth but clogging in the veins. Are you on healthy spiritual diet today? Spiritual aerobic exercise are the worship and fellowship with saints. They strengthen our love for God and love for people, they resist the laziness and selfishness in our flesh, as it is written, ¹⁴We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. (1 Jn. 3:14 ESV) Have you done any spiritual aerobic exercise today?

Though the Heart Month is coming to an end, there is no end for our spiritual discipline, ¹³But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14 ESV)
Prayer: O Lord! Please raise us up to strive for a healthy spiritual heart, that we shall mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint!