In February of 2013, I had the misfortune of suffering a heart attack. Fortunately, due to the great work of a medical team, I’m here today to be able to talk about it.
As part of the recovery process after a heart event, one needs to attend a series of information sessions that discuss issues like what caused the heart event, the impact it on your body and mind as well as some preventative ways to help ensure you can avoid another heart event into the future.
One of the fascinating facts that I learnt during these sessions is that the heart is one of the strongest muscles in the body. When you think about it, it makes sense, as it needs to be able to pump the oxygenated blood to every part of your body with enough force to then push the deoxygenated blood back towards the heart!
The presenters also informed us that the most common form of heart attack is due to the heart muscles hardening. Therefore, the heart cannot function properly.
As I read the following verse from The New Testament book Ephesians 4:18, the fact of the cause of most heart attacks came flooding back to me: “They separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”
This passage from Ephesians, written many years before we had the science that enables us to understand such matters, is almost like a spiritual biology lesson in itself.
When our spiritual heart ceases to pump our spiritual blood in the way that it should, because it has been hardened by the wrong choices we make, our mind then becomes cloudy because of the lack of oxygenated blood and our senses become numb. But we cannot live this way, so our senses begin to call out for more because we cannot live in numbness. Since sin spiritually numbs us, we try to get more of the things we think will help, but in fact they don’t.
In society today, there are issues that are almost epidemic amongst us. Many are hooked on things like gambling, pornography, alcohol, acts of violence and an obsession with our appearance. We find ourselves living in an age when the inducements to sin are so many, and they crowd in on us from all directions.
The story is told of a man who, in the days of horse drawn vehicles, was looking to employ a coachman. The key question he asked each of the prospective employees was, “How close can you drive a coach towards the edge of a cliff?”
One candidate replied, “I could go within 30cm!” Another responded, “I could go within 10cm!” A third responded, “I can go right to the very edge!”
The final applicant responded, “You wouldn’t find me trying to do anything of the sort. I would keep as far away as possible!” Needless to say, this person got the job.
The hardened heart requires a greater level of stimulation to keep it going. This the downward spiral of addiction and is why we need the wisdom of the final applicant of keeping away as far as possible from the causes of hardening our hearts.
For example, take television drama program of yesteryear. If there was an expletive used or a raunch scene shown, it was considered shocking. Whereas today, if it is used or shown, they are seen as common place and seen as relatively harmless. The truth of it is that it is harmful and is helping to slowly harden our heart. What can seem almost innocent is creating an addiction for greater forms of depravity.
This is one of the reasons why I am so thankful that our staff workday begins with us gathering for devotion. This practice is then extended to starting each school day with students.
By this simple practice of reading and considering God’s word each day, we are able to keep our hearts healthy by being aware of not being drawn into the downward spiral.
My prayer is that each member of the community can have a healthy heart and be able to live in the manner we have been called to live by God, through Jesus Christ.