That's Sick
I’m a baby when I’m sick. I don’t tolerate illness well at all. Colds and flus don’t inflict themselves on me that often (thanks guys), so that is probably why. I hear about people that wake up every day with a splitting headache, or a sore back, or feet that burn so hot they never have to where shoes – even in the winter. I’m not kidding about that last one. Disease is a symptom of a fallen world. The fact that our bodies break down is proof that we are physically on the way out. The downward spiral is upon us all. A couple of guys escaped it – Enoch and Elijah. They lived before Jesus touched down here, so things were different then. But barring the day of Jesus’ return, we will go through illness and death. It’s as sure as taxes they say. As sure as babies like to suck on things.
What concerns me though, is our reaction to it. Mine this time around was not so good. I think I milked it a little. “Honey, can you get me a Tylenol…”, “Dear, can you run out and get me some cough syrup…”, or even “Can you unwrap my lozenge?” It’s good to be sick. It helps you understand what others go through. Sympathy should be a healthy currency when a friend is ill. But we can be too fixated on it. I’ve often had a knee-jerk kind of reaction to prayer meetings I’ve sat through where just about every request had something to do with either a physical ailment or a material need. It grates me the wrong way when people get too preoccupied with the physical world and neglect the spiritual. But then I turn around and get sick. Pray for me, I cry!
It’s an important thought, nonetheless. It is easy to keep our needs in the forefront of our minds. The hard thing to do is to cast those cares, that bread on the waters. The problem with being preoccupied with the physical things is that it actually has the potential to undermine God. Jesus asked a man to follow him once. The man replied, “let me go bury my father first.” The Lord answered him with seeming harshness by saying, “let the dead bury their own dead…” It sounds callous at the outset, but maybe the carbuncle was on the other guy. He was in effect saying to Jesus, “You don’t understand, my dad is sick and he’s going to die soon. I want to stick around and be there for him and my family.” Once again, that first part of the reply was, “Jesus, you don’t understand…”
I think we often tell Jesus that he doesn’t understand. We question the waiting and the often lack of supply for the need, but you have to remember that we don’t really know the meaning of that word. Need, is a subjective thing. It’s a whole lot different from God’s perspective. Maybe we need tuberculosis, maybe we need to get into a car crash, maybe we need to even die. But to die, is gain – right? That’s the mind of Christ. It’s not our natural minds to think that way. This takes prayer. This takes some serious re-adjustment of our hearts to the heart of a father that actually loves us more than we love ourselves. We talk about him knowing us better, but not too often do I hear that the Lord passionately and desperately loves us more than we even begin to love ourselves. If that’s true, don’t you think he’s worth trusting?
Jesus was on the cross, and looked down at Mary. He said to her, “Mary, behold your son” referring to John. He was dying on the cross, going through excruciating (a new word they had to coin) pain. He is thinking about others. He didn’t take the gall, the anesthetic. He bore our griefs and our sorrows, physically, emotionally, mentally, and most of all spiritually. We can trust that we have a sympathetic high priest.
I’m told that “sick” is another word that has been re-applied. Like “wicked” or “ridiculous”, now “sick” means, cool. Well, I don’t think that’s a stretch. Don’t we often quote Romans 8:28 – “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” I think it’s safe to say that “sick” can be included in “all things”. God can make being sick, good. How? Let’s leave it up to the One that made death good too.
BJ
What concerns me though, is our reaction to it. Mine this time around was not so good. I think I milked it a little. “Honey, can you get me a Tylenol…”, “Dear, can you run out and get me some cough syrup…”, or even “Can you unwrap my lozenge?” It’s good to be sick. It helps you understand what others go through. Sympathy should be a healthy currency when a friend is ill. But we can be too fixated on it. I’ve often had a knee-jerk kind of reaction to prayer meetings I’ve sat through where just about every request had something to do with either a physical ailment or a material need. It grates me the wrong way when people get too preoccupied with the physical world and neglect the spiritual. But then I turn around and get sick. Pray for me, I cry!
It’s an important thought, nonetheless. It is easy to keep our needs in the forefront of our minds. The hard thing to do is to cast those cares, that bread on the waters. The problem with being preoccupied with the physical things is that it actually has the potential to undermine God. Jesus asked a man to follow him once. The man replied, “let me go bury my father first.” The Lord answered him with seeming harshness by saying, “let the dead bury their own dead…” It sounds callous at the outset, but maybe the carbuncle was on the other guy. He was in effect saying to Jesus, “You don’t understand, my dad is sick and he’s going to die soon. I want to stick around and be there for him and my family.” Once again, that first part of the reply was, “Jesus, you don’t understand…”
I think we often tell Jesus that he doesn’t understand. We question the waiting and the often lack of supply for the need, but you have to remember that we don’t really know the meaning of that word. Need, is a subjective thing. It’s a whole lot different from God’s perspective. Maybe we need tuberculosis, maybe we need to get into a car crash, maybe we need to even die. But to die, is gain – right? That’s the mind of Christ. It’s not our natural minds to think that way. This takes prayer. This takes some serious re-adjustment of our hearts to the heart of a father that actually loves us more than we love ourselves. We talk about him knowing us better, but not too often do I hear that the Lord passionately and desperately loves us more than we even begin to love ourselves. If that’s true, don’t you think he’s worth trusting?
Jesus was on the cross, and looked down at Mary. He said to her, “Mary, behold your son” referring to John. He was dying on the cross, going through excruciating (a new word they had to coin) pain. He is thinking about others. He didn’t take the gall, the anesthetic. He bore our griefs and our sorrows, physically, emotionally, mentally, and most of all spiritually. We can trust that we have a sympathetic high priest.
I’m told that “sick” is another word that has been re-applied. Like “wicked” or “ridiculous”, now “sick” means, cool. Well, I don’t think that’s a stretch. Don’t we often quote Romans 8:28 – “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” I think it’s safe to say that “sick” can be included in “all things”. God can make being sick, good. How? Let’s leave it up to the One that made death good too.
BJ
posted by BJ at 7:50 a.m.
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