Sickness is a really interesting thing, if you think about it. We will do everything in our power, regardless of how strange or ridiculous it seems to keep away a cold or the flu, yet at the same time we all accept sickness as a fact of life. At times we hope to be ill to get out of school or work, but when we are sick we would gladly pull a double shift if we could just be well. And looking beyond just those short term illnesses, people thrive and live amazing lives through terminal diagnoses, but others are willing to live with sickness even though they know, somewhere inside, that they could get better if willing to acknowledge there is a problem.

Currently, I am struggling with some kind of cold that showed up out of nowhere on Sunday morning, and which I am praying to be rid of by Friday for a weekend of barbershop. I am taking vitamins, Alka-Seltzer, drinking ridiculous amounts of water, and even trying to not talk (not terribly difficult for me). On the other hand, I have, for many years been overweight. This is another type of illness which causes me to be More lethargic, have some muscle and joint issues, and my eating patterns even take a toll on my emotional/mental status. Now, I have done some things to try and treat this illness, but considering the amount of time I’ve suffered from it versus the amount of time I have strove to heal, it doesn’t even come close to the amount of effort I have out into this silly cold I have now. And in terms of the my life as a whole, this cold will pass soon, but the effects of being overweight will continue to effect me for as long as the problem persists and in ways that I cannot even imagine now.

Why? Why do I insist on attacking a simple cold, but let the rest of me fall apart? It isn’t that I don’t understand the ramifications of being overweight, but rather that I have grown complacent in a life that is sub-par. I can accept being less of a person than I am because I make the choice every day to live that way.

But this blog isn’t about my health, it is about spiritual stuff that I’m learning in school, right? So what is the connection?

On of the things that any good evangelical will tell you is that people suffer constantly from a debilitating case of sin. It is something that every human since history began has had to live with. Like any long-term, debilitating illness, it effects every part of our lives. It can ruin our relationships and our ability to connect with and truly care for other people. It makes us often apathetic toward our work and pulls us in a direction of unbalance. It makes any organization which is made up of people filled with controversy, infighting, and backstabbing. No one is perfect, so no one is safe.

Is all hope lost, then? I don’t think so. While things will never be perfect until Christ comes again to set things right, that does not mean that we cannot start healing. Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised that I believe this can only happen within the context of a relationship with God in which He is the one effecting the healing change in our lives. Sin is a condition of a broken relationship with God, so how can we expect to overcome it on our own. And since the problem is 100% on our side, how can we expect to do anything about it at all without God’s help?

And so it is possible to begin the healing process now, a process called sanctification, but it isn’t easy, and it isn’t pain free. If I were to work toward losing weight and treating that illness it will be hard, filled with pain from waking up muscles which have begun to atrophy and cleansing toxins out of my system which I have built up there. And while I will likely never cease to struggle with my weight, there will quickly come a time where it is easier, where I can actively experience the fruit of the hardship I’ve trudged through.

Likewise, the process of sanctification is painful, full of hardship and tearing away things about ourselves that we have been hiding in, but have been making us sick. Eventually, as we live in relationship with God, we will begin to experience amazing benefits. A sense of peace and joy unlike anything experienced outside of that relationship are nearly impossible to describe. They are the fruit of our striving through the power God grants us, and they truly are worth it.

Pax,

-Paul Hart Cochran