Bradycardia Arrhythmia
Usually, slow heartbeats are not such a bad thing as long as the oxygen supply and the volume of blood are adequate, and the slow heart rate is a sign of health, not illness. The average heart beats around 109,000 times a day. Typically, athletes have lower heart rates, some as low as 30 bpm. If we assume a person is in relatively good health and can lower his or her heart rate by 10 – 16 beats per minute, that lowering would equal roughly 25,000 fewer beats in a day! In an average lifespan, a heart beats approximately 3.1 billion times. Lower that by 20% or 620 million fewer beats in a lifetime – that’s saving a lot of work!
But bradycardia (the first portion of the word comes from the Greek word for “slow”) can also be a sign of a damaged heart, from any number of causes including a heart attack, blocked arteries, or hypothyroidism, (according to the Mayo Clinic). Bradycardia can also kill.
Jesus mentioned the idea in Luke 24, as He spoke two words, not one. “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”
The context of that verse is after the Resurrection. I guess if you are looking at the resurrected Christ and still don’t believe in Him, you would be both “foolish” and very “slow” to believe.
The Great Physician in this particular text chastised the slow in heart for their resistance to believing God’s Word. Why does “natural man not accept the things of the Spirit of God…”? (I Corinthians 2:14a) St. Paul answers this question with three symptoms of slowness: the things of the Spirit of God are “foolishness,” they “cannot be understood” because they have been judged as being “unspiritual.” In this case, it is not simply slowness; it is a full “cardiac arrest.”
Of course, that gift comes through the Word. If that’s true – and it is – what makes people so slow to even consider the Word? I have lots of personal theories and experience, but once again it’s best to trust God’s Word on this subject.
When St. Paul was preaching at Mars Hill (Acts 17), it was specifically the Resurrection which tripped up his listeners. In the case of the Athenians, it was a cultural slowness. From their perspective, the body was not something to be resurrected or glorified. They emphasized the spirit. However, God created us both physical and spiritual. When Jesus joined creation by becoming man, He, too, was begotten of the Father (spiritual), and born of a virgin (physical). So when we are resurrected, we will once again be spirit and body, morphed into one. Paul says in I Corinthians 15:44 “it is raised a spiritual body.” Consistency with the old and something quite new are both in the Resurrection.
We often resist the new while acknowledging that the old is not perfect.
But what stimulates the heart is simply focusing on Jesus. I suspect that you hear very few criticisms directed specifically at Jesus. If we focus on Jesus and His perfection, ours heart quicken because we see something truly unique: God joining and then dying for His creation, Christ rising from the dead. And the way that God communicates all this? Here’s how: through sixty-six different books, spread out over 1500+ years, written by numerous authors of great diversity – speaking with one voice. That’s unique! That’s the Word of God. And if you recall, when Jesus accused those Easter disciples of being “slow of heart,” His solution was a Bible study! That gets the heart pumping!
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, may we be quick to study Your Word. May Your message of love in the incarnation and on the cross, and the living hope of the Resurrection, get our hearts pumping with the pulse of faith. In Your Name we pray. Amen.
