Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28
There’s a lot of talk about health these days. I recently came across some research by a guy named Dan Buettner who publishes in National Geographic. Dan has been studying what he calls Blue Zones in different parts of the world. Blue Zones are areas where the people live significantly longer than the rest of the world’s population. People who live longer must be healthy so therefore a good example for the rest of us.
People who live in the northern part of Okinawa have the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world. There is little colon or breast cancer, and low rates of cardiovascular disease. If there’s an anti-ageing secret, they’re in on it. So are the people of Sardinia’s highlands, off the coast of Italy. Men live longer than women there, unlike most western cultures. Many Sardinian men are aged over 100, and are still healthy enough to ride bikes and chop wood.
Even in America, spiritual home of the Double Down Burger with its 32 grams of fat!, there are pockets of longevity. The men in one Seventh-Day Adventist community in California live an average of 11 years longer than the typical American male.
If you put an Okinawan, a Sardinian and an American Seventh-Day Adventist in a room together, they might struggle to find common ground. But Dan Buettner and his team have found that they all have a remarkable amount in common – at least regarding what helps them live long, healthy lives.
They’ve put down 8 things they have in common relating to their long, healthy lives.
1. Move naturally
Great news: the world’s longest-lived people don’t go out of their way to exercise. But just because they don’t hit the gym every day, doesn’t mean they’re inactive. In Okinawa, people sit on the floor: 100-year-old women get themselves up and down from the floor as many as 40 times a day. In Sardinia, houses are multi-storied, so a lot of stairs get climbed daily. Two other habits shared by these healthy old people: tend a garden and take walks. Definitely not couch potato zone.
2. Relax
There is a lot of stress in our world and it is shortening our lives. Stressed people’s bodies enter what’s known as an ‘inflammatory state’, associated with illness and disease. Chilling out for just 15 minutes a day can move you towards a more anti-inflammatory state. What refreshes you? Bible reading. Prayer. Meditating on Scripture. Observing the world and thanking God for it. Sudoku. Walking.? What’s needed is a shift in our perspective on things like what’s important verses what’s just urgent. Check out Romans 12 for some radical perspective shifts.
3. Have a sense of purpose
The researchers found that having a sense of purpose about your life – one that doesn’t go away when you retire – is worth around seven extra years of life expectancy. Okinawans call it ‘ikigai’: the reason they get up in the morning. And if you do live to 100, having a sense of purpose in your life is bound to make those extra years more enjoyable!
Where do you derive your sense of purpose? The other day I was praying for a woman who has just come home to NZ from missionary work in Africa. She says retirement is not in the Bible and she’s expecting Jesus to direct her into a new avenue of service.
My purpose: to let Jesus shine through me. Live out the life of Christ in service to Him. Our mission statement is pretty good: Grow in Christ and serve him in love. Soak it in and live it out.
4. Eat plants
It’s no surprise that long-lived people eat healthily: that means lots of plants and beans, less meat. This thing about meat being unhealthy has come out of the USA where they feed their animals on grain. Nutritionists are now more inclined to differentiate between corn fed and grass fed animals. Generally healthy animal, healthy meat; unhealthy animal, unhealthy meat. NZ grown meat is generally healthier than US grown meat. Our butter is actually good for you. Generally plant protein is better for us than animal protein. I’m eating less meat than I was.
5. Eat less
Okinawans live by a 3000-year-old adage, invented by Confucius: Hara hatchi bu. It means: stop eating when your tummy is 80% full. Easier said than done, but eating less is proven to add years to your life. I know I overate on Wednesday evening and suffered for it. Our obesity epidemic is because this rule is not being followed. Fat people aren’t particularly healthy and tend not to reach a great age.
6. Put your family first
Long-lived people have strong family connections. Buettner calls it the ‘grandmother effect’: keeping your ageing parents close to your family adds about four to six years to your own life expectancy (assuming you don’t end up killing each other!), plus it’s good for your children’s long-term health. Obviously difficult when the children fly off to other parts of the world and can be expensive keeping connected. Not part of the Kiwi thing but could be good to lift the value of this one.
7. Belong
Belonging to a strong community, such as a church, can add 4 to 14 years to your life expectancy. Isolation is very damaging to humans. We must ensure that ours is a healthy community. On Wednesday evening I went to a meeting called by Civil Defence for people in the Bayswater/Belmont community. We began the task of preparing a Neighbourhood Response Plan to use if disaster strikes. I’m more motivated than before about getting to know my neighbours because in a disaster we really need one another.
8. Choose good friends
It’s also important to surround yourself with the right people. Hang out with healthy people, and you’re much more likely to stay healthy yourself. And when you live a long, active and healthy life, who you chose to fill it with becomes more important than ever. The older I get the more important relationships are to me. In the end what else is there?
So there are the 8. Notice that half of the set are spiritual, relational things. The body is subject to the mind, which is subject to the spirit. One of the adages I see often says that to be healthy one needs to maintain a balanced diet, moderate exercise and good stress management. I think this is still too individualistic. We need to add keeping good relationships – family, friends and community. One’s relationship with God is vitally important as well.
What we need to move our society to greater health is a readjustment of our perspective – how we see things, what we value and how we live.
In the Matthew reading, Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ, but doesn’t see the implications of what the Christ has to do. He has misinterpreted Jesus’ mission and Jesus has to correct his understanding.
In Romans 12, continuing his practical outworking of God’s grace, Paul focuses on the quality of love that is required to live in a Christlike manner in a fallen world. He gives many instructions that undoubtedly challenge any follower’s behaviour. It’s easy to get swayed by what people are saying – the advertising, the articles, the commentaries. But always remember, ‘Whenever our perspective wobbles, the answer is to turn back to God.’ Otherwise we will find ourselves speaking and acting foolishly and unhealthily.
Our two Bible passages focus on the difference between thinking as the world thinks and the Christian’s challenge to think as God thinks, and to behave accordingly – differently to others. God has the big picture – past, present and future. To follow Jesus means forgetting about ourselves and putting God first.