Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

• John 5:6

“When someone is sick or indisposed, the first thing he does is to see a physician. It is medication he wants. Spiritually it is just the opposite – when a person has sinned, the last thing he wants is the physician and medicine.”

• Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations (from Thoughts that Radically Cure)

Kierkegaard is not absolutely accurate here.

Sometimes, when we are sick, we have an uneasy feeling about what might be wrong.  We know that the earlier we go to the doctor the better, but we do not want to hear the bad news.

My wife had COPD, but the doctor would rely on her using her nebulizer to clear things up.  We knew that it was just going to get worse until it was bronchitis or pneumonia.  But we knew that in the early stages, the doctor did not have enough information to diagnose the bad news.  It meant going back to the doctor the second time before the needed medication would be prescribed.  So, my wife would fight me as I administered the breathing treatments.  And she refused to go to the doctor until “it was bad enough.”  I hated that she had to put herself through that, but the doctor did not want to administer unneeded medication.  Even though he knew it was inevitable.

By the way, this was annual and in late November or early December each year.  I called it Cantata disease.  She would be fine, practicing with the choir for the Cantata, and then miss the Cantata due to illness.  She finally surrendered to the pattern and quit torturing herself with the practices.

I am about the same way, but I do not wait until I am among the walking wounded.

But on the sinful side of things.  Sometimes, when we realized that we made a boneheaded mistake – again, we quickly confess the sin and get back on the right path.

“I know, Lord.  I’m an idiot.  I knew better, but when I get tired or distracted, I make more mistakes than usual.  I need those faith journey shoes that don’t slip so much.  I am so sorry.  Please, forgive once again.”

Hiding in the shadows is something I have done in the past, but it does not help the situation.  In fact, the problem my fester and get worse.

But God is the Great Healer.

Do you want to get well?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.