A Reflection on Sickness

Sickness is perhaps the most obvious outworking of the corruption of sin upon the natural world. The utter tragedy that the very creation which God declared "good" would turn on itself. Sickness takes the strong and makes them weak, tears apart the walls we build to separate life and death, and strikes so indiscriminately against the rich, the poor, and all in-between. It strikes fear into the hearts of the young and the old alike. Indeed, while I write this the entire globe is in the grip of another pandemic. And yet, as a Christian I am reminded of an entirely different sickness that has ravaged our planet, seemingly uncheck, for thousands of years. That sickness is sin.

How is it that we have such fear over a virus which may kill our physical bodies, and yet look so passively at our sin which does kill our eternal soul? How is it that we will gladly take drastic measures to stave off the spread of a physical sickness and yet we will in the next breath declare that the pursuit of holiness is too difficult; would require too drastic of a change in our life?

I am not speaking from a high horse here. I ask these questions of others because God has just now made me aware of them for myself. I need to stop just telling myself to be killing sin and begin to actually kill it in my own life. I need to repent before a holy God. I need to fix my eyes once again on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Peter tells us Jesus "... himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." (1 Peter 2:24, My emphasis). Yes, God saves us for the praise of His glorious grace and for His name sake, but he also saves us so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, that we might remember the command for holiness in our lives!

But a reflection on the sickness of sin would be utterly incomplete without the remembrance that though we may fight the symptoms of sin, we cannot cure it ourselves. If anyone could have worked their way to righteousness it would have been the Pharisees of old, and yet Jesus tells them "Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God." (Luke 11:42). We simply don't have a hope on our own. The sickness of sin has already run its course in us, and left us spiritually dead. It would take a miracle to give anyone life again.

Praise God, that he is a God of miracles! That Jesus would take on flesh, suffer in his own broken creation, and be obedient when we have never been, even obedient to his own death on a cross! That sacrifice - once and for all and proven acceptable by the Father in Jesus's resurrection from the dead - would finally cure the sickness of sin in the hearts of those who trust in him. It is because Jesus has cured the sickness of sin in our hearts that we may now fight the symptoms of sin in our life.

And so, in this reflection on sickness, I want to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ. Your greatest sickness has already been taken care of! Though you may contract a virus, and this broken body may perish, Jesus has promised you "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:4). In this light, I have found the Heidelberg Catechism, written over 500 years ago, to be very comforting in this time of physical and spiritual sickness.

What is my only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own,

but belong with body and soul,

both in life and in death,

to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins

with his precious blood,

and has set me free

from all the power of the devil.

He also preserves me in such a way

that without the will of my heavenly Father

not a hair can fall from my head;

indeed, all things must work together for my salvation

Therefore, by his Holy Spirit

He also assures me of eternal life

and makes me heartily willing and ready

from now on, to live for him.