“REED” This
Sickness, Illness, I Don’t Like It-ness
This past Sunday I was unable attend church due to illness. I can’t remember having to miss a service for that reason since I’ve been here at Frederica. I started feeling bad late Saturday afternoon after working outside all day. I knew as I sat in my chair that evening that the body aches, headache, maybe some fever, coughing, and extreme fatigue were not good signs that I’d feel much better the next morning. Sure enough, after a restless night, I was still wiped out and felt terrible as I began letting Pastor Mike and Pastor Cameron know I couldn’t make it for services. It greatly bothered me to have to admit that. I hated the fact that my body wasn’t feeling well enough for me to fulfill my responsibilities. But I knew I couldn’t do it. I simply did not have the energy. This was more than just soreness from overworked muscles. My body was telling me I needed rest and I was being made to listen. Thankfully, after sleeping most of Sunday and resting most of Monday, I was back to normal this morning. I don’t know exactly what to call the “illness”. The more I’ve thought about it, I think I may have just overdone it on Saturday. Too much dust from mowing and moving some old lumber I had stored, building some supports on the outside of my wood shop, combined with the heat of the day and the heat of the fire burning most of that old lumber, plus the smoke from that fire, all amounted to taking a toll on me that I didn’t expect. But, I’ve had days like this before and I didn’t feel this bad afterward. Why now? Yes, I know I’m getting older. And I hear what Aunt Bee heard from ol’ doc Andrews, “We’re no spring chickens anymore.” (A little Andy Griffith humor)
We don’t always know why we get sick. We can be feeling fine one day and then totally rotten the next with no explanation. We can get checked out by doctors and they may can tell us what we have, but not how we got it. We may know someone else we were around that has the same symptoms, the same illness, and know where or from whom we got it, but we don’t really know how. We were just around them. But how one little germ got from them to us is still a mystery. However it happens, we all get sick at times. Be it serious or not, it’s always a nuisance. We can’t do what we want or need to do until the sickness passes and, if you’re like me, we don’t like it. Since sin entered the world, everything that harms us entered the world, and it all ultimately leads to death. Our mortal bodies cannot last forever. We must endure this life in the flesh and its frailties, both spiritually and physically, while striving to live our lives in the Spirit. Paul says in Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” And that righteousness is not our own. “He [God] saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6) Our physical frailties can bring us down just like our fleshly, spiritual frailties. Satan will use whatever he can to discourage us and distract us from staying strong in our walk with the Lord. But we must remember that even though we physically are dying, our spirits are alive in Christ, and we can rejoice in knowing we have everlasting life through our Savior.
There are times in our lives that we will be sick. Hopefully, we can physically rest and allow our bodies to heal. And when we suffer through the physical pain, we can find strength in knowing this physical life is only for a moment compared to the eternal life we have in Jesus.
“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT
Bro. Paul Reed
Tuesday, June 8, 2021