Paying the Price for Health

As I was reading about the demon possessed man from Gerasenes (Luke 8), I was particularly impressed by the fact that after the man was restored to his right mind, healed in mind and body (what a blessing!), his neighbors and friends begged Jesus to leave. They were terrified by what he had done (I imagine that it didn’t help that a herd of pigs went rushing headlong over a steep bank) in healing the man. If you had asked them, beforehand, if they wanted to see the man cured, I am sure they would have all said yes. However, they wanted that to happen without any sacrifice, any shocking things happening, without any rocking of the boat.

I can testify to the fact, that I too would love to have perfect health without seeing any doctors or taking any meds. I went to the eye doctor last week for my annual check up. She decided it was time for me to do some more serious testing on my eyes, due to my pressure being at the upper limits of normal (which has been the case for many years now). So I left her office with a ream of papers to set up appointments for a field of vision test, retinal mapping, pachimetry, and retinography. A half an hour later, I have all the exams set up. Not just for me, but for João as well, for he also has high pressure. And being Rio de Janeiro, can’t do it all in one place with one doctor on one day. So we have a slew of appointments set up to check out our eye health. I should be happy my doctor cares, that my health insurance pays the exam, that I live in a place that affords  me the opportunity to have this done. Ask me if that’s what I am thinking about? I am thinking about all the hours of my life that are going down the hole while I wait for these exams. I am thinking about the headache I’ll have afterwards (those drops for dilating my eyes always give me a skull busting headache). Oh joy…

You see, I just don’t want to pay the price. I don’t want to be inconvenienced. I don’t want my boat rocked. I don’t like going to doctors under any circumstances, much less going knowing I’ll have tons of tests that will require lots of time. And that, my friends, in my estimation, is the problem with most of our churches. We have lots of spiritual sickness, but we just want our status quo. We long to have a wonderful, healthy church, but we aren’t willing to pay the price for it. So we rest on our laurels of what was once a vital healthy body, trying not to look at the reality of a body that needs some serious healing. Who wants to spend all the effort just to get well? If we just wish hard enough, maybe everything will all be okay. You know, the ostrich head in the sand syndrome.

So we pretend all is well and we slowly waste away. Sad, so sad.