I’ve been sick since before Thanksgiving. I had bronchitis that turned into Pnuemonia, and I can barely remember what it means to be normal. I have been slowly getting better but still not 100%. I did run on a treadmill yesterday, and it felt pretty good.
But this sickness has made me consider a spiritual connection. Without an immune system, bacteria would have its way with me and I would already be gone! God put a system together to fight off bacteria and disease and it is a very detailed and intricate interplay of cellular wonder! There are genuine systems out there floating in the air, sitting on doorknobs, and oozing out of kid’s noses, that are enemies of health.
My analogy is simple. The same battle my body faces on a physical front, my soul faces on a spiritual front. There are systems and forces that would desire to bring me down to the grave spiritually. Our culture, replete with porn, promiscuity, materialism, and self worship is always in front of us. The messages come streaming at us at breakneck speed.
And yet I fear that what many of us do is tantamount to standing outside in the cold in our skivvies with Pnuemonia when it comes to our resolve to fight for our own souls in this culture.
On a steady diet of TV, movies, junk literature, and talking heads radio, we wonder where the health is in life? Why am I not getting any better? We have adopted a policy of immune deficiency. Instead of taking in the Word of God that is the vaccine, we swill down copious doses of junk and expect to get better.
Now I am not suggesting a retreat from culture like the ascetics in the middle ages, but I am suggesting wise living. I am challenged to consider what is valuable, what is permissible, and what is unacceptable for my own spiritual health. The apostle Paul put it this way, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.”
Please pass the antibacterial soap!
This is a good reminder to be on the alert. And to keep up with regular “washing” and “disinfecting”.
Well said, man. I found the part about standing in the cold in my skivvies very convicting, actually. We do expose ourselves to too much junk. I happen to like funny television and though my sensitivity has increased with my maturity, there’s still a lot of junk I let in (so maybe I at least have a scarf on). I need to just go inside, get dressed, and trust that what God says is unclean is unclean.