Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” 1 Timothy 5:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Take your medicine”   I believe medical science is a gift from God. I think healthcare professionals, investigative technologies, surgeries, therapies, and medicines contribute to much of God’s healing activity in our day. Oh sure, He still heals miraculously (probably more often than we realize), but in our day He also uses medical science to answer our prayers for healing and for longer life.   But we must take advantage of what He offers us. We must be willing to receive His chosen answer to our prayers and needs. Throughout the two months or our study on the theme “Live long, live well”, I have frequently referred to the work of Dr. Peter Attia and his team of researchers. In their book, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity”, the primary focus of their work was on prevention. It was about preventing or holding off the onset of disease as long as possible. As we have already learned, their research revealed that exercise, good nutrition, adequate sleep, and other lifestyle factors play the biggest role in staying healthy and active late into life.   Taking advantage of investigative technologies is another key. In our day we are blessed to have procedures like mammograms, colonoscopies, prostate exams, electrocardiograms, and other investigative techniques which help to detect the onset of disease so it can be addressed at the earliest possible stage. Those technologies are a gift, but they are only helpful to us if we use them.   Likewise, once disease has been detected we must be willing to take advantage of the procedures, therapies, and medicines that will treat it, possibly cure it, or at least beat it back. I had an uncle who died from lung cancer at the age of only forty-seven. They could have saved his life by removing the diseased lung, and that is what the doctors recommended, but my uncle was afraid of the surgery that would be required. So, he equivocated about it until it was too late, and then he died, unnecessarily, leaving a wife and six young children behind.   In 1 Timothy 5:23 the Apostle Paul counseled his young protégé Timothy to take a little wine to help deal with his persistent stomach problems. In those days wine served a medicinal purpose. So, Paul was essentially telling the young man, “Timothy, take your medicine.” Paul was such a big advocate of the medical science available in his day that he traveled with his own personal physician (Luke).   Medical science is a gift from God. That being the case, my advice to all of us this morning is “Take your medicine”. Use the gift that God has provided for you.   God bless, Pastor Jim    (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 22:3 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Use some common sense”   There’s a fine line between being bold and being stupid, between being adventurous or taking unnecessary risks. God wants us to be bold and even adventurous, but He also wants us to use common sense at the same time.   Dr. J. Vernon McGee, known as “The Old Country Preacher”, once told the story of a young man he knew who was convinced God would protect him no matter what he did. The brash young man even said, “If I wanted to, I could go stand in the middle of the highway in front of a speeding truck, but if it wasn’t my God-appointed day to die, I would be just fine.” To that Dr. McGee replied, “My friend, if you go stand in front of a speeding truck, I can promise you it will be your day to die!”   Some years ago, I had a neighbor who was in his late 70s but very healthy and fit. I’ll call him Frank. Frank was healthy and fit but sometimes not so smart. He had the bad habit of doing things a man in his late 70s shouldn’t be doing – like climbing up on the roof, or lifting very heavy items by himself, or juggling chainsaws (just kidding). One day he decided to climb a tree in his backyard to cut down a large dead branch. The branch was located about 30 feet off the ground. While up there, Frank lost his balance, fell out of the tree, broke his back, and never recovered. His health rapidly deteriorated and that otherwise very healthy man died within a year after that accident.   I’m preaching to the choir here. In some respects, I’m like Frank. I’m older now, still active and able, but sometimes prone to pushing things a little too far by trying to do more than I really should. I know that to be true about myself and so I’m trying to use a little more common sense about such things.   The point is that like Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Joshua, John, and others in the Bible, God does want us to remain healthy, active, bold, and even adventurous as late into life as possible. But He also wants us to be smart. We should not take unnecessary risks.   One of the keys to living long and living well is knowing what’s okay, and how much is too much, when it comes to taking risks. There’s a balance that needs to be struck and as Solomon teaches in Proverbs 22:3, it requires a little common sense.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” Psalm 55:16-17 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Worry less, trust more”   This morning I have one more devotional thought about emotional health and controlling our emotions, and then we will move on to another aspect of living long and living well. Yesterday we considered the sage advice of British Prince Philip, “Stay calm and carry on”. Today we will consider the words of another Brit, British special forces operator and lifelong adventurer Bear Grylls. In his devotional book “Soul Fuel”, Bear shares devotional thoughts and Biblical principles that have been helpful to him throughout his extraordinary life, and which he frequently relies on. With respect to emotional self-control he wrote,   “Worry, as Corrie Ten Boom wrote, does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Life is so much harder to face when we worry. The answer is not trying to find a problem-free life. No one goes through life without facing problems, battles, and causes for worry. What matters is how we deal with them.”   That’s the key right there, “how you deal with them.” Do you allow thoughts about your problems to consume you? Do you worry and fret, allowing yourself to get anxious and stressed about things you have little control over?   King David was a man who faced more and bigger challenges than most of us. Psalm 55 is one of the many Psalms he wrote about how he dealt with those difficult situations. In the case of Psalm 55, he had evidently been betrayed by a close friend or maybe even a family member, and it was causing significant problems for him. So, he did cry out to God about it, maybe repeatedly, but then he left it there with God.   A little later in the Psalm David offered an additional insight that he had learned through hard-earned personal experience: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.” In what way will He sustain you? Perhaps He will supernaturally resolve the issue for you and just make it go away. But more often He will strengthen you to handle the trial with courage, dignity, and confidence – and He will help you to do it without being eaten up with anxiety and worry.   God does not want us to live at the mercy of our emotions, and He does not want us to live in a state of anxiety and worry. Instead, He wants us to be intentional about controlling our emotional state, and the primary way we do that, is by bringing it to Him and trusting Him to help us deal with it. The answer is to worry less and trust Him more.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Stay calm and carry-on”   The late Prince Philip of England was a remarkable man. He was a hero in World War II and of course, he was then married to the Queen of England. Philip was known for his strength of character and his calm demeanor, the man could not be ruffled. That was especially true when he was faced with challenging and even dangerous situations. He was a rock. He lived by the philosophy of “Stay calm and carry-on”, and that’s what he expected of others as well. Philip was also a devout Christian. He also lived to the age of ninety-nine.   If you were to conduct a study of all the times and in all the ways the Bible instructs us as God’s people to live with calm, cool, confidence – courageous and without fear, trusting the Lord and refusing to give in to anxiety, you would be amazed. It’s a dominant theme throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But that shouldn’t surprise us. Jesus told us in John 14:27 that He came to give us peace. In Matthew 11:28-30 He urged us to come alongside Him and to calmly and confidently walk through life with Him. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples and eventually the leader of the early church urged us in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all our cares on Jesus. Peter learned that through long and hard-earned personal experience.   In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul paints a picture of calm and cool Christians who do not live in anxiety or fear. Paul was essentially echoing what God said to Joshua in Joshua 1:9, “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   What does all of this have to do with our study of living long and living well, and more specifically, to our current conversation in recent days about not living at the mercy of your emotions? God has called us to be people who are by nature calm, courageous, steady, reasoned, and reasonable. People who refuse to give in to emotionalism or to live in a state of edgy anxiety.   Why? Why does God call us to a life of cool confidence and steady emotions? Because that’s what’s best for us. People who are highly emotional tend to be edgy and anxious which creates a lot of stress – and sustained stress is a killer. Not only does it steal our joy in the moment, but high levels of sustained stress contribute to heart disease, poor sleep, overeating, and poor mental health, just to name a few. Living at the mercy of your emotions is a prescription for an unhappy and short life.   God wants you to learn to stay calm and carry-on. Walk closely with Jesus, cast all your cares on Him, lean on Him, and trust Him. People who have learned to stay calm and steady rather than being edgy and emotional tend to live better and to live longer than those who don’t.   God bless, Pastor Jim    (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t live at the mercy of your emotions”   Isaiah 41:10 is one of my favorite passages from the Old Testament. It paints a picture of a person who is stable and steady, confident and peaceful. The person is that way because they trust in and lean on the Lord. It reminds me of another Old Testament passage which is also from the pen of Isaiah. Isaiah 26:3 reminds us, “You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on you.”   That brings us back to what we were thinking about yesterday about learning to manage your emotional health by bringing your emotionally charged issues to the Lord in prayer and then leaving them with Him (Philippians 4:6-7). If we will do that then as Paul wrote, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”   The spiritually mature Christian has control over his or her emotions. Theirs is a life that is steady and stable, calm and peaceful, with their emotions well under control. By contrast, if you live at the mercy of your emotions, you are in for a wild ride in life. Emotions tend to take us up and down and all around. Life becomes a rollercoaster of drama and exaggerated thinking (followed by exaggerated responses).   It has been rightly said that: “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts can.” and “We suffer more in our imagination than in reality.” Unregulated emotions do that. Out of control emotions make everything seem bigger and worse than it is, and to borrow a phrase from the Apostle James, such a person is as unstable as water.   Good emotional health is a key factor in our health overall. Unregulated emotions create enormous stress and have a negative impact on every other part of us, including on our physical and spiritual health.  But God has given us Biblical principles which help us to master our emotions rather than living at the mercy of them. It’s critical that we follow Paul’s instruction in Philippians 4:6-7, and 4:8, and learn to control our emotions by committing those issues to the Lord and then truly leaving them with Him.   God never intended for you to live at the mercy of your emotions. It’s simply not healthy.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Learn to manage your emotional health”   In his groundbreaking book, “Outlive: “The Science and Art of Longevity”, Dr. Peter Attia and his team discovered that good emotional health is critical to the overall health of the whole person. Physical and spiritual health are directly impacted by your emotional state. His team reported:   “Emotional health and physical health are closely intertwined … This type of suffering (poor emotional health) is far more prevalent than suicide rates would suggest. It simply robs you of the joy that enables you to focus on your health, life, and relationships with others … This is why I have come to believe that emotional health may represent the most important component of healthspan.”   Another observation he shared which is also very helpful and insightful is, “Mental health and emotional health are not the same thing. Mental health encompasses disease-like states such as clinical depression and schizophrenia … Emotional health has more to do with the way we regulate our emotions and manage our interpersonal relationships.”   Mental health issues require the intervention of healthcare professionals. Emotional health issues are within our own personal ability to deal with. You can learn to regulate and manage your emotional health. In Philippians 4:6-7 the Apostle Paul provides us with a key tool for doing so – pray and release your emotionally charged issues to the Lord.   I know that sounds simplistic and perhaps hyper-spiritual, but that instruction was placed in the Bible by God for a good reason. Do you believe that God is sovereign over all the situations in your life? Do you believe He is all-powerful and it is within His ability to control anything you are faced with? Do you believe that He has a good and perfect plan for your life? Do you also believe that He truly is your loving heavenly Father and that He will not allow you to be faced with more than you can handle? And do you believe that Romans 8:28 is true and that God is actively at work behind the scenes of your life to bring good things out of bad circumstances, even in the worst of situations? Finally, do you believe that His promises are true and trustworthy?   Do you really believe all that?   Then pray like you do and trust Him. If you will do that, then as Paul wrote, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”   You can learn to control your emotions and thereby guard your emotional health. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is possible. We’ll spend several more days thinking about this very important aspect of staying healthy and living well. In the meantime, pray, commit your emotionally charged issues to the Lord, and claim the peace of mind that He has promised would be yours if you will trust the issue to Him.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy – dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Well, bless your soul!”   Sometimes in the Christian world we speak about taking actions that nourish our soul. Our concern is for “soul-care”, and we often express concern about the condition of someone’s soul. In the south we also “bless your soul” (often said with a note of sarcasm). But what does it mean to nourish and bless a soul? And what does a well-cared for and blessed soul look like? For that matter, what is a soul?   This morning, I want to continue our thinking from yesterday regarding the Apostle Paul’s prayer that your whole spirit, soul, and body is well (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In yesterday’s devotional I wrote that as humans we are composite beings consisting of body, mind/emotions, and spirit. But in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul wrote about the body, spirit, and soul. What is the soul and how does it factor into this discussion of us being a whole person who needs to remain healthy physically, spiritually, and mentally/emotionally?   The concept of “soul” can be confusing. It is often used interchangeably with “spirit”, as if they were the same thing. They’re not. As Paul illustrates in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, spirit and soul are different and distinct (which is why he mentioned each separately), which must mean they have different functions.   Unfortunately, the Bible does not provide us with a clear explanation as to what exactly the difference between the two is. Dr. Dallas Willard was a professor of religious philosophy and a great Bible scholar. In my opinion, he was one of the great Christian thinkers of the last generation. In his own studies about the soul he concluded first, that the Bible does not provide us with a clear definition of the soul and its distinction from the spirit, and second, that the soul appears to serve as an interface between the body and the spirit processing information, guiding our thinking, and essentially directing things – similar to a computer.   When we nourish our soul, we are doing what Paul instructed in Philippians 4:8, we are taking care of it by feeding it lots of good, positive, and uplifting stimulation and inputs. When we do that, our soul is blessed and healthy. The soul then uses those influences to direct our mind and emotions, guide our thinking and actions, and move us into a spiritually healthy condition.   However, the Bible also leads us to believe that the soul is immortal and eternal. In other words, it does not cease to exist at the death of the physical body but must, evidently, become one with the spirit. That would explain why, in an eternal sense, the Bible seems to sometimes use the terms soul and spirit interchangeably.   The point for us to take from this for our purposes of living a long and healthy life is that the health of the soul matters. The condition of your soul has a direct impact on your mental and emotional health, which in turn impacts your physical and spiritual health. So, go ahead and bless your soul today. Expose it to lots of good stuff that will make it nice and healthy.   God bless, Pastor Jim      (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You are a whole person”   As a human being created in the image of God you are a whole person – body, mind/emotions, and spirit. You are a composite being, consisting of three distinct but interrelated components. You are not simply a physical body, an organism that lives for a short-time and then ceases to exist. There is more to you than that.   You are also more than just a brain on a stick. Some people believe the mind is supreme and the sole purpose of the body is to be a support system for the brain. But the body needs the brain just as the brain needs the body. You are also not just a spirit-being. Some Christians think that the physical body is nothing more than a shell that contains the spirit and serves as a vehicle for the spirit to exist in this world – like how an astronaut must wear a spacesuit to exist in outer space. No, the body is more than just that.   The body, mind, and spirit are all eternal. The spirit does need the body so it can exist in this world, but even though the physical body will progressively deteriorate until it one day ceases to function altogether, and even though the spirit will at that time be released from the body and go on to exist in eternity, this physical body will one day also be resurrected and reunited with the spirit (1 Corinthians 15:50-54) and exist for eternity too. Likewise, your mind/emotions are an integral part of the health and proper functioning of both the body and the spirit during this lifetime, but you do not lose your mind when you die. Your mind goes with you into eternity – transformed, cleansed, and perfected.   You are more than just your individual parts. Your individual parts are all related, interconnected, dependent on one another, and eternal. The condition of your mind/emotions has a direct effect on the physical condition of your body and your spirit. Likewise, your spiritual health influences and impacts your mind/emotions as well as your physical well-being. And the physical condition of your body impacts both your mental/emotional health and your spiritual health. The point is that you are a whole person and therefore you need to take proper care of your whole person. Physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual selfcare are all essential.   We have already paid a good bit of attention to caring for our bodies. Now we will shift our focus to maintaining good mental, emotional, and spiritual health. All three are needed and all three depend on the others.   By-the-way, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, in our Bible verse for today, the Apostle Paul did not refer to the mind/emotions as being the third element in our human triad of components. Instead, he used the word “soul.” Why? What exactly is the soul, what does it do, how is it different from the spirit, and what role does it play in our overall health? We will think about that tomorrow. For today, be sure you are taking care of your whole person – all three parts of you.   God bless, Pastor Jim     (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life and will see your children’s children!” Psalm 128:5-6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “They need you”   One of the greatest motivators for us to live long and to live well should be that our loved ones need us. Your spouse, children, grandchildren, friends, and church family need you to take care of yourself and to be around for a long time.   That’s the picture the Psalmist was painting for us in Psalm 128:5-6. That’s the prayer he was praying for those who would read his words – may you live long and well and may you live to see your children’s children (and perhaps their children’s children!)   As we have already learned over the previous month of devotionals on this subject, there are many good reasons for taking proper care of yourself. The first is the stewardship issue. Your body belongs to Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He purchased your physical body to be a walking, talking, mobile temple of His Holy Spirit so He can then use you to help in His kingdom-building work on earth. Then there are all the additional benefits of simply feeling good and being physically able to do the things you love.   But another critical reason to take care of yourself and to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible is because your loved ones need you to. For one thing, if you are not healthy, those closest to you pay the price for that in a hundred different ways. And then, if you die younger than you should have, they must deal with the long-term grief associated with your death, and your children’s children don’t get to know you.   It can be painful to watch the older folks in our lives battle health issues related to ageing, but we also realize such issues come with ageing. But it especially grieves me to witness young and middle-aged adults who don’t take proper care of themselves. Either they don’t realize that the bill for that is coming due and soon they will begin to experience all the debilitating effects of neglected health or, if they do realize it, they deflect it and push the thought aside. Either way, loved ones will one day (perhaps soon) begin to experience the consequences of that person’s neglect of their own health. There is no way that can be God’s will. In the Bible we are taught to take proper care of ourselves.   The fact is that you are surrounded by people who love you and who need you to take care of yourself. That fact alone should be all the motivation we need to do everything we can do to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Your loved ones need you.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning, everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Live long, live well”   Our Bible verse for today: “Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not left him.” Deuteronomy 34:7 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Did they find the fountain of youth?   The Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon is said to have been in search of the fabled “Fountain of Youth”. The Fountain of Youth was supposed to be a spring of water with magical qualities which produced long life in whoever drank from it. Sadly, Ponce never found the fountain (because it didn’t exist), and he died at the young age of only 47.   People have been searching for the equivalent to the Fountain of Youth long before, and ever since, the days of Ponce de Leon. Humans have always had a strong desire to live long and to live well, and they have always been in search of ways to do that.   The bad news is that none of us has total control over how long we will live. The good news is that there are many things we can do to help increase the probability of a long life that is lived well. We have covered many of them already in the first month of our study on this subject. We have learned that exercise is medicine. Scientific and medical studies prove conclusively that a daily habit of moderate exercise dramatically improves your overall health, and it serves to extend both the quantity and quality of your years of life.   Diet is critical too. Good nutrition is a vital element to good health and longevity; as is sufficient sleep. Also, a purpose you are passionate about. You need to know that your life makes a meaningful difference. .   If you have studied the life of Moses then you already know that all those elements were present in his life and as Deuteronomy 34:7 tells us, he lived to be one hundred and twenty and he was still healthy and vital when he finally did die. The same was true of his contemporary Caleb who, when we last see him on the pages of the Bible, was eighty-five and still going strong (Joshua 14:10-11).   In his fascinating book “Blue Zones”, longevity researcher Dan Buettner discovered that those who tend to live the longest and the best all seem to share certain attributes and characteristics that have contributed to their long healthy life. Some of those characteristics are the ones mentioned above. In the days to come we will consider some of the others.   The fabled Fountain of Youth has never been discovered. But as Dan and others have found through extensive medical and scientific research, it is possible to add ten or more good quality years to the average life by making some simple adjustments to lifestyle. There is a Fountain of Youth (sort of), and in this study we are discovering what it is.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571