It started with a tickle, like a feather under my nose. Then, the scratchiness in the back om tongue. By this morning, my head was stuffed with cotton, my throat burned, and a shallow cough had settled into my chest. Yep – I have a cold. It’s okay – it’s not contagious over cyberspace, so you don;t have to click off.
As nasty as a summer cold is, I found a God-message in it.
Do our souls react to sin the way our body reacts to germs? I think so.
At first sin is a mild irritant, but if we let it enter in, the Holy Spirit will make us uncomfortable as it tries to defeat the sin, the way our bodies’ white corpuscles attack a cold germ. It may take a lot of sneezing to get it out of our system. Not pleasant, but for the best.
Ignore the sin even more, and it can even make us sick. We begin to feel out of sorts and irritable. If we don’t confess the sin and try to live our lives with it, it digs in deeper to become a full-blown infection, just like a cold can turn into pneumonia or bronchitis.
Like taking cold and cough medicines, confession may not be pleasant. But it is necessary if we are to heal. The earlier we begin treatment, the quicker we can nip the symptoms in the bud.
There are other things you can do. Let your prayer be like a facial tissue- expel your sin and then toss it away.
Like hot tea, the vapors of mercy can soothe you. And to prevent your sin from infecting others, forgiven can be like a hand sanitizer that keeps the sin from re-entering our hearts. In fact, when we encounter a negative, grouchy or hurtful person, maybe we should grab our spiritual armor the way we dig in our purses and pockets for the hand sanitizer bottle when someone sniffles or coughs. God’s Word is the best defense to keep our souls healthy.
When you have a cold you are supposed to rest because you are weak. Are we not supposed to rest in the arms of our Lord when we feel spiritually weak?
The experts say to intake lots of water if you feel a cold coming on. Jesus said He is the Living Water. If we intake a huge dose of Him in our lives, will that help flush out our sinfulness? Oh, and you are to increase your Vitamin C. For the spiritual sniffles, is the Vitamin C otherwise known as Christ? Do we not need more of Him in us?
Hmmm. Is that why they called Jesus the Great Physician?
Julie, what a wonderful comparison between sin and sickness. And the cure is indeed Jesus! Going to repost this one.
DiAne
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thank you!
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