It is amazing what just one little pill can do. It may be tiny but its impact can be significant. If you are experiencing pain, a prescription of small pills can often reduce it quickly. If you can’t sleep, another pill can get you a solid night’s rest. Some medications work with a single dose. Others need to be taken several times or even long term. Just think, though, what they can do for you. Some of them fight infection or kill bacteria. Others can reduce high blood pressure, lower cholesterol, or regulate many different functions in your body. The discovery of these medications has extended the quality and length of our lives in wonderful ways.
Doctors and people in the medical profession seem to agree, however, that sometimes medication and surgery would not be necessary if individuals would be willing to change their lifestyle and habits. On the surface, it seems like that would be the only logical thing to do. When avoiding certain foods, exercise, reducing stress, or a variety of other treatments might also ease the pain, reduce inflammation, and help to prevent further or other related problems, what keeps anyone from making these changes so that they will not have the side effects that all medications seem to have? Perhaps it is the “not knowing for sure” that the change will even help that keeps individuals from taking this advice, but in most cases it is the resistance to giving up something that is pleasurable or the discipline and inconvenience that is just too hard. Breaking an old habit, particularly if it gives you a feeling of happiness or comfort or security, is never easy.
If you knew that following some of Solomon’s wise advice that is written in Proverbs would improve your health, would you be willing to take it seriously? For example, he tells us that “a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones” – Proverbs 14: 30 or “gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” – 14: 4. Since you “know for sure” that a peaceful and content heart and gentle and honest speech both contribute to your well being and quality of life, what are your options?
