How to beat the common cold

 Misc.  No Responses »
Jan 062018
 

I have a cold.  Snotty nose, stuffy head, scratchy throat, miserable nights trying to sleep and breathe, and all that stuff.  It’s a nuisance and an inconvenience, but it’s nothing life changing.  I’ve learned over the years that colds come and go.  There is nothing you can do but take some medicine, drink plenty of liquids, get some rest, and go on with life.  Whining and complaining does no good.  It only makes you feel more miserable.  It’s best to go on about your day, tissue in hand, and live life knowing that one day soon, this too shall pass.

Knowing it’s only temporary seems to be one of the keys to living through a cold without complaint.  If I were to contract a cold and someone told me it would last for years, then I think I would complain.  I would whine, pout, feel sorry for myself and ask God why He allowed such a hardship in my life.  But the common cold that lasts a few days, that I can handle. God has designed my immune system so that it will soon get the upper hand and the cold virus that seeks to invade and infect me will be eradicated.  The hardship is temporary.  In the end, I win.

I am trying lately, to take that attitude about bigger things.  Compared to eternity, this life is so very short and any hardship I face is only temporary.  With Jesus as Lord, God is in control.  And in the end, I win.

That reminds me of the time I had a cold . . .

 Consider This, Misc.  1 Response »
Jan 222013
 

I have a cold.  No major illness.  No major trial.  Just the minor inconvenience of a headache and a nasal system full of snot.  None the less, I will be glad when it’s over and the sickness is a memory.

Colds do slow me down, but I try not to let them get me down.  It’s a pain to have to deal with the headaches and snot.  However, I realize it is only temporary.  Colds are not typically life threatening, so in a few days, this one will just be a memory.   But today,  there is a battle raging inside my body.

While I write this, white blood cells are attacking the invading virus, determined to subdue it.  In the end, the invading virus will be conquered.  My body’s defenses will win, and I will feel better.   In the meantime, this got me thinking about why God made the body “almost” perfect.   His design allows my body to fight the germs, but why didn’t He design it so the germs never even have a chance?   Why didn’t He make it so my defenses were so good that I would never even get sick in the first place?

One possibility:  Because I was sick from the day I was born.   This earthly body is not perfect.  The disease of sin means certain death to this earthly body.   A cold reminds me of that.  Any trial, any sickness, any disease, any death of this earthly body is just a reminder that sin has to go.  It also helps me realize that eternal life in this corrupt body would be a curse.

A God who would leave me to live forever in a sickened corrupted state would not be a loving God.   Therefore, our Heavenly Father has provided a solution.  Christ is the cure.  He is a living example of the truth that the body must die so the spirit can live.   Perhaps eons from now, looking back from the perspective of eternity, I may turn to one of my Christian friends and say, “Remember that time when we were all sick?  Aren’t you glad we got over that?”

 

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
     – Romans 8:8-14  NKJV