4 Benefits of Getting Really Sick

I seldom get sick. For some reason, I usually sidestep most maladies, bugs, and viruses.

(Photo: by Elena Elisseeva, via Vivozoom)

But when it does come my turn, sickness makes up for lost time. With a vengeance. I get really sick.

This happened last week. So, while I sat around feeling miserable, I got to thinking.

I discovered four benefits to getting really sick.

1. You realize how weak you really are.

You exercise regularly. You try to eat well and to get enough rest. You even take supplements. But shake the unwashed hand of one infected individual, and whammo! One little virus can take your entire body down for days.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, no doubt (Psalm 139:14). But we are also vulnerable to weakness.

2. You realize the world can live without you.

This is the tough one. Getting sick caused me to miss an important meeting at work. We planned for weeks that I would conduct a video interview, but I had to pull out at the last minute for my sick time. You know what happened? They got someone else to do the interview, and it went just fine without me!

I’m not that important. Getting sick reminded me that my participation in something is a privilege, not a right. I am not God’s gift to my job. My job is God’s gift to me.

3. You realize the blessing of good health.

Sometimes you have to lose something to appreciate it. Most movies work like this.

• Start with “normal life.”
• Enter a crisis.
• Solve the crisis.
• The “new normal” is that you simply appreciate what you took for granted.

Are you grateful for good health? If not, just lose it for a while and you’ll change your perspective. Good health is a blessing from God.

4. You look forward to heaven.

I see this hope in two aspects.

• First, misery looks for relief, and heaven promises no more sickness, or crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). Whatever we’re struggling with, we know it will end one day.
• Second, any physical recovery today is a preview of what Jesus will do on a cosmic scale one day. When Christ healed people, it was more than mercy expressed. He gave a preview of what He will do for those who will enter His kingdom. Just as Jesus’ resurrection was a preview of all resurrections, so every healing, every physical recovery, is an example of what God will do on a large scale to all believers.

Obviously, the benefits of getting sick are benefits of perspective. I’m sure there are more than these four that I’ve put on my list.

But these were good medicine for me.

Tell me what you think: What advantages can you think of to getting sick? To leave a comment, just click here.