After an infection, our physical immune systems can become confused and begin attacking healthy cells and tissues. Damage to tissues can result in high stress to the body, and provoke an autoimmune response. Genetics also play a role, though the specific mechanism is still unclear. Pain, weakness, and inflammation are common symptoms. Autoimmune diseases generally have no cure, and may be progressive. They are chronic conditions. Sufferers go in and out of remission and flare ups, and are tasked with managing their conditions, each in a way uniquely suited to their bodies.
We've all got a spiritual autoimmune disease. During a flareup, our spiritual "immune systems" perceive a threat in God and flee from Him. Sin is like an infection that causes us to become confused about who our enemy is. We may passively avoid, or develop actively antagonistic mentalities towards, God. We may become self-sabotaging or self-destructive. Whether it's our own sin or the sins of other people against us, sin damages our spiritual "tissues".
Just as physical autoimmune diseases may be genetic, so our spiritual autoimmune disease is passed down through our genetic line. We might think of these genetic traits as having been passed down through the human family since the time of Adam and Eve. They are the reflexive impulse to sin, and the unhealthy learned behaviours and coping strategies we've developed in our families of origin. The Bible says we've all been born in sin. [1] Certain genes have been toggled "on" through the damage sin causes. [2]
During an autoimmune flareup, we experience spiritual inflammation, often brought on by a spiritual triggering event (it may be sin-related, or trauma-related). We flee from God because we perceive Him as unsafe. But this is a lie—a misfiring of our natural reflexes that gravitate towards safety.
Separating ourselves from the "threat" of God, we experience pain and weakness. We try to numb ourselves from our loss of intimacy because looking at it full-on is too painful. But problems with our bodies, especially as we age, rarely improve on their own. Ignoring them only increases our peril. This is just as true in the spiritual realm as in the physical one. If sin is a viral infection causing a spiritual autoimmune response, we cannot afford to ignore it. Nor can we afford to flee its treatment.
Happily, we have hope. Though there is no cure for our autoimmune disease before we reach heaven, there is a treatment that is 100% effective at keeping symptoms at bay if only we lean into it wholeheartedly. Jesus is our treatment, and in the life to come, our cure.
He is not our enemy. He is the One who gives us rest. Who gives us victory. Who treats us each according to our individual needs. Who gives us peace, despite the turmoil of the world. We are safe with Him. We're safe in Him.
He is both our health and our hope.
Lord God, please enable me to recognize Your safety ever more quickly in the midst of flare ups. Please give me the stamina to not only cope with this spiritual autoimmune disease, but to find health and the ability to thrive under Your ministrations. Please remove my guilt and shame and enable me to enter into the fulness of You. In Jesus' strong and powerful name, Amen.
NOTES
[1] See Psalm 51:5.
[2] The scientific term for the process of toggling on genes through trauma is called “epigenetics". They can be toggled off again through psychotherapy and other treatments geared towards psychological healing.
