Health Care Obsession

Everyone is talking about the health care reform bill that our government has now made law. Assuming it passes the various constitutional challenges, it will result in massive amounts of regulations to interpret what it really means. The bottom line is that the federal government now has more control over the personal decisions we all make concerning our health.

Most of us know the massive debt impact to our economy will eventually come back to bite us and we doubt that the one-size-fits-all decrees by Washington bureaucrats will actually improve health care. But that is the age we’re living in; hope for change but only getting uncertainty and disappointments. So it is important to keep this development in perspective… life goes on and we need to focus on what is really important, growing in our relationship with Christ. One way we can grow closer to the Lord is to apply what the Bible says about His role in our health.

Jesus promised to give us what we need: “do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32, NKJ). This certainly includes the health we need to carry out what God has called us to do. We do live in a fallen world so bad health happens but God is able to heal us when it serves His purpose. So the key to good health is to make sure we are serving the purpose of God.

No matter what the government does to us in the name of health care, it is comforting to know that all healing comes from the Giver of Life. Since God is in control of even the molecular forces that hold our bodies together (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:17), He is the one who heals us. Charles Stanley once said that he knew he was at the right doctor when he saw a sign that said, “God does the healing, the doctor just collects the fee.”

One reason the government felt they needed to do something about health care is that the costs are getting ridiculous. I could give many “tactical” reasons for this that our government does not even address but the “strategic” reason health care costs are sky rocketing is materialism. If this material world is all there is then all the resources that can be poured into living longer can be justified. But this life is not all there is and those who recognize that truth and act accordingly will not have to worry about bad health... Proverbs 3:7-8 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”

As I consider the impact of our government taking over yet another aspect of our lives in this world, it only makes me look more forward to when we may be with Jesus. Given today’s trends, we don’t have long to wait.