Healing the “Sin-Sick Soul”
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“He restores my soul. ”
Last week I went through several days of illness. How quickly we forget what it feels like to be healthy. The warmer temperatures feel like the regular fall viruses and allergies are hanging around longer than usual. Most people can handle the discomfort and pain for a day or two, but when it drags out to a week or more, it can zap one’s will, making even the most enjoyable tasks pure drudgery.
When our soul is ill, our emotions, joy, and meaningful commitments whither, we can forget what it’s like to feel spiritually healthy. Just like getting over a virus, there are ways of healing our soul faster as well. If we deny we are sick physically and continue to run ourselves into the ground, our illness will only worsen. Likewise, if you ignore your spiritual illness, the ache will only become more aggravated.
There are ways to heal faster physically. You can take an over-the-counter medication. You can visit a doctor and hopefully get a prescription for something. Even just getting more sleep and keeping activities to a minimum can assist in the healing process. The soul has its process for healing. Prayer slows the mind down and nurtures the soul. The soul requires rest, but it also needs to be massaged. The soul’s healing is done by slowly allowing room for God to speak healing words through you. The Holy Spirit is a healing balm that renews and brings life back to the soul.
Just like every human being gets sick occasionally, so too does the human soul. We can ignore our physical symptoms or even exacerbate the symptoms through poor living, likewise with the soul. Ignore or even diminish the soul through poor living, and the soul will get deathly sick. So today, take time to do a spiritual exam to determine the health of your soul. Then, invite God, the great physician, to attend to your wounds, fever, and infection. Give the Great Physician the time and access to healing each of our “sin-sick souls.”
