THINK TOGETHER.
Do you know anyone that is sick?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 17:22. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
The Bible teaches us that we have a physical body and an invisible spirit. You can see, touch, hear, and sometimes smell your physical body. But you can’t see, touch, hear, or smell your spirit. But trust me, it’s there. It’s inside of you.
Another word that Solomon uses for the inside part of you is heart. This can be confusing because your heart is also a physical part of you. Can you feel your heart beat? When Solomon says joyful heart he means having joy on the inside part of you – your feelings. Do you feel joyful today?
Solomon is teaching us something very important here – that our outside body and our inside heart or spirit are connected. When we feel joyful in our heart we feel good in our body (like good medicine), and when we feel crushed in our inside spirit, we feel sick in our body (dried up bones).
Now there are lots of physical things that can make us feel sick in our body. Viruses, bacteria, diseases. But there are also lots of spiritual things that can make us feel sick too – sadness, guilt, or hopelessness.
What does all this mean? It means that when we know someone who is sick we can cheer them up in their spirit and make them feel better. It means that we can remind sick people that Jesus loves them and that he will always be with them no matter what. It also means that we need to be careful not only with each other’s bodies, but also with each other’s spirits. Would you crush someone’s body? No way! But would you crush their spirit with mean words? I hope not.
Jesus was crushed in his body and his spirit for us. Believing that helps us to know that we will never be crushed by God. Now we don’t have to crush others.
Because of Jesus our spirit is full of God’s love.
With Jesus we can have a joyful heart and pass it on to others too.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Do you know someone who has been sick? How might you cheer up their spirit?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you give me joy. Help me to be able to keep others from feeling crushed and discouraged too. Amen.
TLICfamily 