A Back Story

You may have noticed that I was walking a bit gingerly last weekend.  Over the past few weeks I had been feeling an irritation in my back and it really flared up on Sunday.  According to the Wharton Diagnostic Clinic I believe my problem is my sacroiliac.  I am feeling better; but, there were a few moments that were touch-and-go.  The reason I share this with you is twofold:  first, if you have ever had this pain I apologize for not being as sympathetic as I should have been and, secondly, it brought up some parallels in my spiritual life. 

My pain reminded me of three simple principles:

1)  Pay attention to your actions.  After I figured out the source of my pain I started planning my steps and my movements more carefully.  I knew some things were going to cause me pain and I did my dead-level best to avoid them.  How carefully do we watch our spiritual walk?  Are there things that we know are going to lead us into temptation?  Are there natural consequences for our actions that we know will result in emotional pain and hardship?  Purposeful living can help us avoid physical, spiritual and emotional pain.

2)  Accept that pain is temporary.  Once I felt I knew the reason I was hurting – and I figured out that I wasn’t going to do anything to make things worse –  I realized that, while this was going to be a pain (literally) it was going to pass.  Sometimes, we have a tendency to place too much emphasis on the temporary and forget about what lies beyond.  Our future-view should acknowledge that there will be times when our momentary pains will discourage; but, there is hope for healing is promised.  As I reflected on this I was led to what the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:16-18).


3) Determine and deal with the cause of the problem.  As I researched my issue I learned that it was likely caused by things that could be controlled with diet and exercise.   In a sense, last weekend’s pain was a blessing because it lit a fire under me to start making some changes I had been thinking about for a while.   Often, the issues we face are natural consequences from our own actions.  By changing our lifestyle we can eliminate some of the hardships we endure.  Whether the root cause is worry, sin, inactivity, selfishness, or a host of other things; by fixing the source, we can avoid the pain of the inherent consequences.

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