Silas
Good and Faithful Servant
The sensation of something moving beneath your skin, the ache that seems to have no source, I know it can be bewildering and even frightening. Your body can feel like a stranger to you, a house where the floorboards creak for reasons you cannot trace. But take heart in this: the real you, the person who cries out to God, is not defined by the temporary condition of your flesh. These bodies are drawn from the dust, and to dust they will one day return. That statement was made about the physical frame alone, not about your spirit. There is a part of you that does not disintegrate, that lives on in Christ long after the chemical elements of this earthly tent have gone back to the soil.
Because we still live in this mortal frame, we groan. We groan for many reasons, weariness, strange pains, the sheer fragility of it all. Even creation itself is described as groaning in travail, waiting for a birth. And what is it waiting for? The full transformation of God’s children, when these bodies are no longer subject to weakness, fatigue, or mysterious discomfort. You asked God to heal everything inside you that moves wrongly and brings pain. That is a right and biblical prayer. The prophecy of Isaiah, fulfilled in Jesus, includes physical healing along with the healing of the soul. He Himself bore our sicknesses, and by His wounds we are provided for. So asking for relief is not grasping at something that isn’t yours. It is reaching for what Christ purchased.
Yet the body you live in now is not the final version. I am not looking for a rejuvenation of this old tent. I am looking for a far superior model, one no longer troubled by drive or decay, a redeemed body delivered from the bondage of corruption. Until that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we remain here, and we learn to reckon with the flesh. You do not have to be ruled by its pains or its longings, because this body is not your master and it is not even your own property anymore. You were bought with a price, and your body is now a temple of the Holy Spirit. That changes what you can do with it and how you can endure what happens inside of it.
Do treat your body with reasonable care. There is a relationship between the prospering of your soul and your physical well-being. The attitudes we hold, the anxieties we nurse, the unforgiveness we harbor, all influence the chemistry of this fragile frame. Be at peace in your inner being even as you ask for healing in your outer being. And know this as well: you are not an isolated hand or a severed foot. We are many members, but one body in Christ. When one part is hurting, the whole body should feel it. What you are suffering right now is not just a private mystery; it is a place where the rest of the body is called to carry you, to ache with you, to groan alongside you until the full answer comes.
The day will dawn when the strange movements stop, when the unnamed pains are silenced forever. You will move out of this tent. The 17 elements that make up your frame will be returned to the earth, and your spirit, the real you, will step into a house not made with hands. In the meantime, yield your members to God as instruments of righteousness, not as prisoners of every discomfort. Use what strength you have to glorify Him. And when the weakness is too great, simply offer Him the groan itself, trusting that Jesus does not despise a broken sigh. May you know His healing touch, whether it comes swiftly through His power or surely through the resurrection. He has borne your griefs. Be at rest in that.
Because we still live in this mortal frame, we groan. We groan for many reasons, weariness, strange pains, the sheer fragility of it all. Even creation itself is described as groaning in travail, waiting for a birth. And what is it waiting for? The full transformation of God’s children, when these bodies are no longer subject to weakness, fatigue, or mysterious discomfort. You asked God to heal everything inside you that moves wrongly and brings pain. That is a right and biblical prayer. The prophecy of Isaiah, fulfilled in Jesus, includes physical healing along with the healing of the soul. He Himself bore our sicknesses, and by His wounds we are provided for. So asking for relief is not grasping at something that isn’t yours. It is reaching for what Christ purchased.
Yet the body you live in now is not the final version. I am not looking for a rejuvenation of this old tent. I am looking for a far superior model, one no longer troubled by drive or decay, a redeemed body delivered from the bondage of corruption. Until that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we remain here, and we learn to reckon with the flesh. You do not have to be ruled by its pains or its longings, because this body is not your master and it is not even your own property anymore. You were bought with a price, and your body is now a temple of the Holy Spirit. That changes what you can do with it and how you can endure what happens inside of it.
Do treat your body with reasonable care. There is a relationship between the prospering of your soul and your physical well-being. The attitudes we hold, the anxieties we nurse, the unforgiveness we harbor, all influence the chemistry of this fragile frame. Be at peace in your inner being even as you ask for healing in your outer being. And know this as well: you are not an isolated hand or a severed foot. We are many members, but one body in Christ. When one part is hurting, the whole body should feel it. What you are suffering right now is not just a private mystery; it is a place where the rest of the body is called to carry you, to ache with you, to groan alongside you until the full answer comes.
The day will dawn when the strange movements stop, when the unnamed pains are silenced forever. You will move out of this tent. The 17 elements that make up your frame will be returned to the earth, and your spirit, the real you, will step into a house not made with hands. In the meantime, yield your members to God as instruments of righteousness, not as prisoners of every discomfort. Use what strength you have to glorify Him. And when the weakness is too great, simply offer Him the groan itself, trusting that Jesus does not despise a broken sigh. May you know His healing touch, whether it comes swiftly through His power or surely through the resurrection. He has borne your griefs. Be at rest in that.
