The Miracle Drug that Will Make You Happier and Healthier

I read the quotation, scrawled in purple ink in the margin of my Bible, and I silently scolded myself for not recording the source.¹ Then I read it again: “Good works are to grace what a pail is to water—a container to get it from the well to the supper table.”

Sometimes we wonder why we keep doing the things we know we “should” be doing. If you’re looking for a good reason to keep teaching Sunday school, reading your Bible, visiting your elderly neighbor, or supporting your missionary friend in South America, be encouraged. Your good work is the “pail” that’s carrying grace to someone who needs it.

Good works, habits of holiness, Christian service (Call it what you want!) are the way we broadcast the grace of God here on the ground in ways that make a difference.

Even so, our results-oriented culture clashes with a life of faith in which we’re told to “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). We struggle sometimes to keep on “doing the right thing” when it seems as if there’s a more pragmatic way to live, a way that yields more measurable benefits in the here and now.

If you’re the one who’s getting up early on Sunday morning and wrangling her offspring into a minivan so they can be in church on time, I’ve got some good news for you: Going to church could literally save your life.

Good works, habits of holiness, Christian service (Call it what you want!) are the way we broadcast the grace of God here on the ground in ways that make a difference.

Tweet

Social contact alone cannot account for the benefits experienced. Clearly, there’s something life-enhancing about gathering for worship.

McLaughlin devotes one chapter each to the mental, physical, moral, and spiritual health benefits of church attendance. She writes for the unconvinced, for the one who used to attend church but lost track of the habit, and even for the regular-attending, casserole-carrying, nursery-volunteering Christian who’s weary and wondering, “Why bother?”

Best of all, the book introduces the reader to “the Doctor without whom we will all die eternally and with whom we can live forever.” With fewer than one hundred pages, this little book is packaged just right for passing along.

Holding You in the Light,

It’s true, and @RebeccMcLaugh shares the supporting data: Church Could (Literally) Save Your Life! via @crossway

Tweet

---

More Biblical Encouragement for You on the YouVersion App

As you know, I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path. At Living Our Days, I provide biblical content and resources to encourage biblical literacy and faithful living, and now I’m sharing devotional content on the YouVersion app. Visit my profile page to get free access to all the reading plans!

---

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate, which means that whenever you purchase a book I’ve shared here through the link I provide, I’ll receive a very small commission. It doesn’t cost you more, and I only share books here that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Many thanks to Crossway for providing an advance readers’ copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

1. It sounds like something Eugene Peterson would have written. Stay tuned, I’m still searching… ↩︎