Studies have shown that many people do not believe that such things as a poor diet, insufficient sleep, a sedentary lifestyle, drug abuse, etc. have a direct effect on their daily lives. Smoking is a good example of this attitude. We have known for decades that cigarette smoking is a deadly addiction. Yet more than 720,000 people take up the habit each year. This in spite of the well-known fact that smoking takes on average 13 years off a smoker’s life span. When advised of this proven fact the normal response reflects a “bullet proof” attitude–the warning on cigarette packs was not written for them. In their case, statistical facts are meaningless. Truth is what they want it to be. Having come from a family of smokers and a culture of tobacco use I can attest to this almost universal attitude. I can also report that nicotine has taken the lives of far too many of my relatives before their allotted time on earth. My people are by nature a hearty group. However, tobacco turned many of them into weaklings. My maternal grandfather was one such soul. That old Indian was able to endure severe pain with stoic indifference. But during his final days, as emphysema consumed his lungs, he would cry out in pain. Upon hearing of the death of a dear childhood friend who had smoked during his adult life, I talked with his widow about his final days. She told me that his pain was so severe that he spoke fondly of dying and looked forward to ending the misery. How sad; how avoidable.

The choices we make in this life have a direct effect on our health. Our health in turn affects our daily life. God designed us that way and for that reason gave us specific instructions concerning our health in His Holy Bible. In His Word He gives us not only spiritual laws, but physical, mental and emotional laws as well.  In this series we will look to those laws for instruction relative to our mental and physical health. As anyone who does not have good health will confess, life loses much of its meaning if one is not able to enjoy it. In this series we will learn from the Master how to have good health and enjoy life by obeying Him. It is my hope that you will study the Scriptures provided which prove that the Lord is very much interested in every aspect of your life. L.J.