by From the National Institute of Health on Aging: “The common cold, flu, and COVID-19 have similar symptoms. Knowing the signs … can help keep you and your loved ones safe. … If you feel sick, stay home and call your doctor to discuss how you’re feeling and whether you need to get tested. Older adults are more likely to become seriously ill from the flu and COVID-19.”
If you have ever had a severe case of the flu, or COVID, you would have thought you had the plague. You tried everything for relief to no avail. Living in a twilight-zone, you forced your body to fulfill simple daily responsibilities. Albeit, your drive and enthusiasm were annihilated by the fever … your efforts to accomplishment anything ended as a fragmented mess … your physical strength was drained of the little energy you had left.
The same thing happens in the spiritual realm. Just as the flu plagues the body, spiritual energy and faith can become crippled and drained. This is not necessarily because of a sin committed, but ofttimes it is the result of the fall of man, the sin of Adam and Eve, and the ongoing repercussions passed down into our decaying bodies. Physical energy is going to fade, causing the spirit to struggle along the way.
The amazing thing for believers, whose spirit has been made alive through salvation (Ephesians 2:1-10), our spirit can be lifted up and strengthened all the while the body becomes frail and unable. God knows this, as Jesus exemplified, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. When Jesus faced this struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 36-42), He learned in His humanity the utter importance of dependency upon the Father. The weakness in His flesh was not an excuse to sin, not quit, but an invitation to rely on God’s divine strength. Paul learned this in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, that he had to rely on the power of God for his spiritual strength amidst his physical infirmities, reproaches, persecutions and distresses. We learn the same, that “for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
As we press through the cold and flu season, please take necessary precautions to protect both your body as well as your spirit, for Christ’s sake.
