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For the past twenty-five years, Christian health
care professionals have been striving to convince
the world that the spiritual dimension really does
matter. To some extent, we’ve been too successful.
Today, spirituality reigns—spirituality in more
varieties than ice cream flavors. Almost any nurse
will tell you that the person is a holistic unity
of body, mind and spirit. We know that the
spiritual is important. However, now the tables
have turned. We are beginning to neglect the body.
Short-staffing
and pressures to do more with less combine with
postmodern thinking to make spiritual care more
attractive than tending to bodily concerns. Even
many nurses who value good physical care complain
that they simply don’t have time to provide it.
However, just as poor spiritual care impedes physical
healing, the physical care that nurses provide affects
the spirit.
The
Bible says some surprising things about the body,
with profound implications for nursing care. First,
throughout the Scriptures we see how holism
works. We are not divided into separate parts, labeled
body, mind and spirit, but we are embodied spirits
who think, feel and relate with one another and
with God.
The
Dictionary of Biblical Imagery puts it this
way: “The holistic view of ‘body’ as the whole person,
which permeates the Bible, makes for certain other
implications for ‘body’ as image. For it means that
body becomes the place where we meet God and live
out our service to him. It is the expression of
our divinely given creatureliness, where obedience
is practiced. And it is seen always, therefore,
in relationship, with God and the fellow creatures
with whom we share our corporeality, our ‘bodiness.’”1
From
the beginning of Genesis, we read that God made
man and woman for companionship—with him and with
one another. Furthermore, God’s ultimate revelation
of himself came in bodily form, in the person of
Jesus Christ. We also see that the body transcends
earthly existence. When we get to heaven, we will
stand before God in bodily form (Job 19:26; 1 Cor
15). We need bodies so we can recognize each other
and enjoy one another’s companionship.
Throughout
Scripture we see a continuous thread of God’s concern
for the physical needs of his people. God constantly
fed, clothed, refreshed and healed his people, culminating
in the ministry of Jesus, who did a lot more physical
care than preaching and teaching. God cares about
our physical bodies and wants to make us whole.
Jesus instructed “go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37).
The idea that we need bodies for interpersonal relationships
has some interesting implications for nursing. In
Ezekiel 16:39 we read about God’s judgment on idolaters,
saying, “They shall strip you of your clothes and
take your beautiful objects and leave you naked
and bare.” Being stripped of their clothing and
jewelry was the ultimate shame. Clothing and accessories
indicate status and reflect personality. Yet, the
first thing we do upon admitting patients is to
tell them to take off their clothes and valuables
and put on a hospital gown that leaves their backsides
exposed. What does that communicate about the power
balance in the nurse-patient relationship?
We
also learn that God is not impressed with our outward
appearance (1 Sam 16:7; 1 Pet 3:4). He loves us
as we are and for what comes from our hearts. He
expects us to care equally for the rich and the
poor, the powerful and the weak, the lovely and
the unlovely—in fact he favors the latter in each
case. God loves and values our bodies, even when
we don’t. We are called to do the same for those
in our care.
Even
though God loves us just the way we are, we are
also called to discipline our bodies so that they
honor God (1 Cor 9:24-27). They are “temple[s] of
the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19). We need to watch
our diets, exercise regularly, stay away from immoral
lifestyles and worship faithfully. We really don’t
need all the latest research to prove that faith
and godly living are good for our health.
Almost
3,000 years ago, the prophet Isaiah declared, “Those
who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and
not faint” (Is 40:31). As nurses, God calls us to
teach people how to care for their bodies through
healthful living.
The
Scriptures also teach that aging is a natural process.
The body declines with age. Ecclesiastes 12:1-7
gives a vivid description of the aging process,
reminding us that getting old poses unavoidable
challenges. However, the Bible also makes it clear
that we are to care for those who are old, weak,
suffering and alone (1 Tim 5:1-8).
Finally,
the Bible directs us “to present your bodies as
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). We
do that through spending time in prayer and Scripture
reading, but primarily through holistically serving
those in our care. How does this look in nursing
practice? Read on.
Living
sacrificially is a nursing student suiting up (again)
in isolation gear to comfort a frightened woman,
or a nurse gently caressing an abused child as he
dies. It is carefully stitching the wounds of a
drunk driver whose reckless driving has just killed
a child, or providing a safe place for prostitutes
to come for help. It is setting up a nationwide
network of caring for a critically injured colleague
living in a foreign land, or providing for orphans
half-a-world away, or leaving the comforts of home
to care for the victims of war. It is drawing our
strength from God as we give unselfishly of our
time, money, energy and passion to care as Jesus
did for those created in God’s image.
—JAS
1Leland
Ryken; James C. Wilhoit; Tremper Longman III, Dictionary
of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity
Press) 2000, p. 109-110.
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