On Being Sick

You may have noticed that a few days went by without anything new on the blog. That's because I've been sick. Yes, I caught whatever bug this is that's going around here. I hate being sick like this. The general aches and tiredness that come with fever, the coughing, the sore throat, the congestion, the runny nose, waking up throughout the night either drenched in sweat or shivering with chills: it all gets old quick and you're ready for it to be gone long before it goes away. So what do you do? You go to the doctor. He may give you a shot and prescribe some medicine to take, and you wait for all of that to work. Meanwhile, you gradually try to work your way back to some semblence of a normal day's routine. But then even though you're starting to feel better, you still run out of energy about as soon as you get started doing anything. It just takes time and patience.

Now I'm not fishing for any sympathy here, I'm just setting up an object lesson for us. Physical sickness is obvious and we generally do something to address it; but what about spiritual sickness? There are obvious symptoms of spiritual sickness: a dying prayer life, dwindling zeal for the work of the church, lack of interest in studying the Bible, giving in to temptation more and more, and so forth. When we see symptoms like these in our spiritual lives, how do we respond? We ought to respond in a similar way to the way we do with physical illness. Jesus alluded to Himself as a physician, when He said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Mark 2:17). Sin is the greatest sickness of all and Jesus is the only physician who can make us well. When we see symptoms of spiritual sickness in our lives, we need to turn to the Great Physician and seek the healing only He can give.