Our immune system is the primary force that allows us to fight off harmful bacteria and thereby stay alive and healthy. Let me repeat that. Our immune system is the primary force that keeps us alive and healthy. In fact, a balanced and strong immune system is what survival is all about. All of human history could be summarized as our human struggle to survive against the trillions of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungus forms that are everywhere around us. To these microbes we are little more than soft thin walled flasks of culture media.
We stir up millions of microbes that are capable of infecting and killing us every time we eat, brush our teeth, scrape our skin, have sex, hug our cat, get bitten by insects and breathe air from polluted air conditioning systems in airplanes and hotels. Not only does our immune system help fight off harmful bacteria, but it's also only the strength of our immune system that keeps us alive. Between the twelfth and eighteenth century is when great pandemics of bubonic plague, also known as The Black Death, swept across the world every 50 years or so leaving millions to suffer a horrible death. Just that one harmful bacteria, known as pasturella pestis, killed off one-fourth of the entire human race, turning entire cities into ghost towns from which the few survivors fled in terror. Only those with a strong immune system survived.
Today we still face new and deadly epidemics. The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed millions. And just since 1973, twenty-nine new and previously unknown infections have appeared on our planet, including Lyme Disease in 1975, the deadly Ebola virus in 1976, Legionnaire’s disease in 1978, toxic shock syndrome in 1978, AIDS in 1981, Hepatitis C virus in 1989, Hanta virus in 1993, the lethal 0157 strain of E. Coli contaminating hamburger meat in 1998 and the more recent American outbreak with Africa’s West Nile Virus. We are all at risk in these days when an airplane air conditioning system can spread the germs of anyone on the plane to everyone on the plane.
Now all this may sound somewhat alarmist, but it's the reality of how dangerous the world we human beings share with trillions of potentially lethal microscopic life forms. Millions of people will still die each year not only as we fight off harmful bacteria, but from these microbes living in our soil, in our air, our water, and our food. And scientists agree that a weakened and unbalanced immune system make us more susceptible to virtually all known diseases. Allergies, asthma, arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, attention deficit disorders, frequent colds, flus, sinus infections, inflammatory bowel disorders, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue are everywhere today. Strong signals that are immune systems can no longer cope with our stressed out junk food lifestyles and our overuse of toxic drugs.
I can tell you we are only as young and healthy as our immune system. Our quest to fight off harmful bacteria and to stay young and fight the aging process, and our quest to survive will depend more than anything else on keeping our immune system balanced, healthy and strong.
This starts to make a little bit of sense when we start to realize why Jesus Christ referred to himself as "the bread of life." Food must be eaten, digested, and assimilated to become part of our life that will give strength to our physical bodies. It is written that man shall not live by bread alone. Part of the reason this was written is because the Word of God is food for our spiritual life, and it operates along the same principle as our physical body that needs bread to sustain growth. The nourishment from food is a substance that does not come from within ourselves, but from without, because like the natural realm, the spiritual realm also needs a point of contact outside of the individual. We cannot live on our own feelings, experiences, or upon the sweetest words that come from within, which may excite, warm, or interest us, but cannot support, feed, or sustain our true spiritual growth.
In the new covenant, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, who entered into heaven itself to appear in the holy of holies, the sacred chamber of the heart of God's glorious presence for us. Jesus Christ is the promised seed and faithful High Priest, who fulfilled all the law, and is set between God and us because he is connected to both sides, and thereby he is able to work with God and with us. My mind boggles over God's heart of love, His compassion, and the tenderness to have Jesus Christ, who is the greatest food of all time, the bread of life, to establish a true and vital spiritual relationship between God and us.
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