by From the National Institute of Health on Aging concerning Blood Pressure: “High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major health problem that is common in older adults. Your body’s network of blood vessels, known as the vascular system, changes with age. Arteries get stiffer, causing blood pressure to go up. This can be true even for people who have heart-healthy habits and feel just fine. High blood pressure, sometimes called “the silent killer,” often doesn’t cause signs of illness that you can see or feel. Though high blood pressure affects nearly half of all adults, many may not even be aware they have it. If high blood pressure isn’t controlled with lifestyle changes and medication, it can lead to serious health problems… The good news is that blood pressure can be controlled in most people.“
Our country is in a major spiritual blood pressure crisis. The signs that our spiritual blood pressure is out of control are similar to the physical. We slow down and become confused, disoriented, spiritually faint as we face life’s challenges. On the other hand, high blood pressure comes when we venture beyond our spiritual strength. The path of least resistance is to slow down on God. Though slowing down is necessary is its place, it is only one ingredient to becoming spiritually stronger once again. Like the physical, spiritual exercise and spiritual medicine are needed to maintain our spiritual blood pressure as we age.
1 Timothy 4:8 reminds us that “bodily exercise profiteth little.” This is because there’s no cure for physical blood pressure issues that accompany aging. However, Paul goes on to tell young Timothy that spiritual exercise profits all things, in “the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” This spiritual exercise and medicine are explained in 4:9-16, where 4:13 tells us to “give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” These are found daily in our personal devotional time and weekly in God’s House.
Though there is no absolute cure for physical blood pressure, there is absolute cure for spiritual blood pressure. The cure is the same that saved us, the blood of Doctor Jesus.
