Good news for the countryside: The heart of the matter

​When I attended the cattle mart growing up, I remember a mobile canteen offering a rather limited choice to farmers - tea and a Paris bun, however, was a favourite. Then well-equipped canteens evolved to meet the hungry needs of farmers. Another more recent development has been the appearance of a screening van operating as a portable clinic.

According to the Public Health Agency: ‘The farming community is particularly susceptible to poor health and wellbeing, partly driven by the wide demands impacting on farmers across a range of social and economic factors. They often work long and anti-social hours which can lead to social isolation and often difficulty accessing traditional health care services.’

As a result, this on-the-spot health initiative for farmers and their families, offers blood pressure monitoring, BMI and cholesterol checks, and diabetic screening. As the Farm Families Health Checks leaflet says, ‘free health assessments and advice, tailored for you.’

Recently I was reminded that it is very possible to feel fine, but actually be at significant risk from a health issue. After surgery I also gained a fuller understanding on issues around cholesterol. It was explained to me that some high levels of ‘bad cholesterol’ are not a consequence of bad diet, or poor lifestyle choices, but may be something in our makeup, something that we have inherited.

When I considered this, I thought about what the Bible says about something that is of yet greater danger - the reality of inherited sin. David in Psalm 51:5 states, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

He was confessing a problem that he had from the very beginning of his life. David did not become sinful, but was born with a bias towards breaking God’s law and rebelling against

Him. In Romans 3:10&11 the Apostle Paul writes, “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.’”

The basic truth is that all of us are sinners in the sight of a holy, righteous and pure God, but this isn’t accepted readily by society. Many prefer to believe that we are basically good and are capable of living in a manner that pleases God. That’s not what the Bible teaches. Without exception, we all have a heart problem and it can only be fixed by God.

Later Paul makes this statement that brings us hope, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3: 23&24).

To be justified means to have our standing before God changed, as we repent of sin and trust in Jesus alone for salvation. As we do this, we move from a position of condemnation, because of our inherited sin, to one of salvation, due to the forgiveness provided by Jesus.

I am grateful that my health issue was identified, and thankful for the surgeon’s gifts and skills to enable physical healing. However, I recognise that eternal healing is more significant and praise Jesus for the salvation that He offers.

Maybe, you will encounter this one-stop mobile health facility in the coming days? We are rightly reminded not to neglect our health and well-being, but the greater danger is to neglect our spiritual state.

Having grown up in rural Tyrone, after leaving school at the age of 16, Knox worked for over 20 years on the family dairy farm near Aughnacloy. Having felt the call of God to full-time ministry, he was ordained in 2005 serving as minister of two Presbyterian congregations for 14 years. In 2019 he was called to be minister of Aghadowey and Crossgar Presbyterian Churches in County Londonderry.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.