health

February 11, 2020 Jfuglerwriter Comments Off on Courage and Health

Courage and Health

My dad’s words ring in my ears, “If you have your health, you have everything.” Personally, I wouldn’t go that far, although good health is a great blessing.

When we tie our value to our health, we’re on dangerous ground. I’m especially sensitive to that as I witness several of my friends afflicted by high blood pressure, heart problems, bad knees, cancer and other maladies.

For some of them, I sense their fear. For others, it’s worry and discouragement. The steadiness of good health isn’t so steady any more. There’s a shakiness as they grapple with the uncertainty of their future. I have to wonder if some of them feel less valuable, too.

We all have to come face to face with our humanity. When we’re hit with a surprise diagnosis or a pain that lingers, our mind should go right to God. Our dependence on him should deepen, our hope in him should spring fresh. Instead of fear, confidence in God can grow.

That looks good on paper, but it’s not easy to live out.

Paul was plagued by a secret illness or disease that theologians have been trying to figure out for centuries. It was so intense, Paul describes it this way, “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV) Not every illness is Satan’s tool in our lives, but it was for Paul in this instance. And he knew the reason, stating in the same verse, “In order to keep me from becoming conceited.”

A friend of mine has a painful, Paul-like reminder that plagues him every waking moment. I marvel at how this has drawn him close to his Savior, with a dependence I wish I had. However, I don’t want the classroom lesson – pain.

Because Paul was a spiritual giant, the pain didn’t bother him, right? Wrong. Paul wrestled with it and wanted it to go away. He was human like we are. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NIV)

Whether our health is good or bad, we can choose to focus on it or turn it over to God. The latter will build our confidence in Jesus. This courageous faith is needed when our health does fail.

Paul understood the lessons God was teaching him, which drew him closer than ever to Jesus. Like my friend, he held on to the Lord and experienced intimacy with him.

Paul’s words were not academic, but birthed from experience: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.” (2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV)

Your comfort comes directly from God. In the midst of your pain, cling courageously to him. He is there.

(From my new Devotional, Your Life With God: 30 Days of Courage. Available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback).

September 24, 2019 Jfuglerwriter Comments Off on Rest and Devices

Rest and Devices

When it comes to getting rest for our souls these days, has God has left us to our own devices? Actually, I think he wants us to put them to rest so we can rest. Our devices . . . today’s biggest enemy to rest.

We’ve heard the statistics. The average person each day spends over 75 minutes on social media, nearly a half hour texting, 25 minutes on email, 15 minutes playing games, and the rest of the time on calls and apps, for a total of over four hours a day. The biggest time waster used to be TV. Now it’s whatever we want it to be on our phone.

We’ve also heard the health warnings. “The more people use their phone,” Dr. Nancy Cheever, researcher at California State Dominguez Hills, told ABC News, “the more anxious they are about using their phone.”

People are anxious with their devices. It seems like we’re anxious without them, too. When we don’t have our phone with us, we’re afraid we’ll miss a text. We don’t want to be excluded from important information. As a result, we have some sort of device detachment syndrome.

So you don’t think I’m immune to this, I admit I have my phone with me all the time. I check it often for a number of reasons. I don’t do Facebook (it makes me anxious) but I have a plethora of other choices. I must make sure the weather forecast hasn’t changed in the past half hour, my favorite team is still playing tomorrow night, and I haven’t missed any breaking news, and a super-duper urgent text hasn’t escaped my attention.

Once I have all that settled, I’m at peace and can rest. Not quite. Ten minutes later, I have to re-check all those sources. No wonder I can’t rest!

I hope you’re squirming right now. You should be. I should be, too, as I confess my device dependence.

On the count of three, let’s both slide our phones across the floor like we’re a criminal surrendering a Magnum to the police. Ready?

1 . . . 2 . . . 3! Slide that phone across the floor. If you’ve got a second one concealed under your pant leg, slide that one, too.

I know this conversation is humorous, but the reality is not. How much time do we fail to rest because, thanks to our phones, we can’t shut down? We can’t relax! It’s tragic. God is sad. He sees us chasing our tails and beckons us to slow down, pause, stop. And rest.

On some phones, you can see a “screen time” report. How horrible. It shows us, like a mirror, how dependent we are on our devices. Imagine if you spent just 10% of that time resting? Resting with God. It’s like tithing your screen time to God.

Well, now that I’ve got you rattled, I’ll conclude today’s reflection and let you decide what your next step is. I can’t tell you what to do to take back some rest time from your device. But God can.

Slide that phone across the floor and spend the next few minutes consulting with the Lord.

(From my upcoming book. Your Life With God: 30 Days of Rest. Coming in October to Amazon.)

Scroll to top