All Things Health and Spirit

 

“Okay, really? If metabolic syndrome is a collection of physical symptoms like: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and a large waistline, what in the world does my spiritual health have to do with it? [1]

Besides, even if my spiritual health does impact metabolic syndrome, doesn’t that complicate things? I already feel overwhelmed with my physical ailments and now you’re telling me I need to tend to my spiritual health, as well?”

If you can identify with those thoughts and question above, you’re not alone. Metabolic syndrome is a complex collection of symptoms and it may seem far-fetched and even discouraging to think that our spiritual health also plays a role in it.

But don’t think for a minute that tending to your spiritual health will complicate matters. On the contrary, think of your spiritual healthy in terms of “leverage”. Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

Your spiritual vitality truly can serve as a lever to help pry metabolic syndrome (or any disease) from your life. Wise King Solomon put it like this:

My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. – Proverbs 4:20-23[2]

Your spiritual health is undeniably linked to your physical health. Click to Tweet.

The two are intertwined and inseparable. This intimate connection holds true for every area of your life: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual. This is the way God made us—as fully integrated beings.

We know for instance that there’s a strong relationship between metabolic syndrome (the physical) and depression (the psychological or emotional).[3] In fact, the one feeds the other. If you have metabolic syndrome, you are likely to have been depressed over it at some time. And when you get depressed, you are more prone to let yourself go, which worsens metabolic syndrome.[4]

You’ve probably experienced the connection between your psychological and spiritual health. When you feel spiritual vitality you are less likely to become depressed.[5] Your spiritual health overflows into and impacts your physical health, as well.

4 Ways to Boost your Spiritual Health and Battle Metabolic Syndrome

Your spiritual vitality can greatly help you prevent or halt metabolic syndrome. Here are 4 ways to help improve your spiritual health:

1. Intentionally focus on cultivating a deeper relationship with God.

True spirituality is defined by a relationship with God that is vibrant and ever-growing. Get to know Him better by spending time reading His Word, the Bible. Spend time talking with Him daily in prayer. Learn how to “hear” and distinguish His voice. Be quick to put into practice what you read in the Bible and what God urges you to do.

View your spiritual life for what it is—a relationship with God—and not merely “doing spiritual things.” As you pursue your relationship with Him, He will comfort and encourage you. He will stand by you. He promises, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

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2. Spend time with others whom you can feed and who can feed you spiritually.

Attend a church regularly where you find loving, like-minded people. Look for ways to serve others and spend time in the company of other spiritually healthy people. Be a model to others and seek out others whose lives you can imitate.

We all desperately need the love of others and opportunities to love others that this fellowship will bring.

We can weather a lot and accomplish much more when others are standing with us! Click to Tweet.

3. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23

Jesus put more emphasis on what comes out of our hearts than what goes into our mouths.[6] Feed your heart with that which will make it loving, kind and gracious. And weed out bitterness, strife, and anger.

We are all prone to go our own way and to put our own needs and desires before others. We are selfish by nature. Weeding self-centeredness out of our hearts does not come naturally or automatically. This is something we must deliberately do for the rest of our lives, but the rewards are great. “While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8[7]

4. Put first things first.

Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today,” Matthew 6:33-34. Stress, worry and anxiety worsen the effects of metabolic syndrome. Trust God with your whole life.

God invites you to take your every care to him. People who don’t understand God’s gracious and loving character protest that we are arrogant to think that he cares about our insignificant little issues. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible invites us to, “Humble ourselves before God…by casting all our cares on him, because he cares for us.”[8]

The point here is not simply to ask God to take away your metabolic syndrome so you can continue on in a lifestyle of inactivity and self-indulgence. Instead, ask him to help you make the changes necessary to halt your metabolic syndrome and watch him give you the strength and self-discipline to follow through. Doing so releases a supernatural peace and joy in our lives that can only come from God.

Your spiritual health and well-being are intimately linked to your physical health and emotional health. Don’t merely try to fight metabolic syndrome on a physical level. Apply the “lever” of your spiritual health to pry metabolic syndrome from your life.

If you liked this article, then you’ll love these:

• How to Have a Healthy Spiritual Immune System
• Spiritual RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance)
• Our Spirit’s Role in Whole Body Health

 

 

Sources:
[1] WebMD, “What Is Metabolic Syndrome?” December 21, 2013, http://www.webmd.com/heart/metabolic-syndrome/metabolic-syndrome-what-is-it.
[2] Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
[3] James A. Dunbar, MD, et all, “Depression: An Important Comorbidity with Metabolic Syndrome in a General Population,” Diabetes Care, December 2008, http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/31/12/2368.full.
[4] PubMed, “Bidirectional Association Between Depression and Metabolic Syndrome: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Epidemiological Studies,” May 2012, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22517938.
[5] Emily Deans, MD, “Brains, Spirituality, and Depression,” Psychology Today, January 26, 2014, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201401/brains-spirituality-and-depression.
[6] Matthew 15:11
[7] The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
[8] 1 Peter 5:6-7 paraphrase.