Lupus - a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body)
With lupus, something goes wrong with the immune system, the part of the body that fights viruses, bacteria, and germs ("foreign invaders," like the flu). Normally the immune system produces antibodies that protect the body from unhealthy invaders.
However, with an auto-immune illness like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign invaders and healthy body tissues and creates auto-antibodies which attack and destroy healthy tissue.
I am in the middle of a lupus flare-up.
During the month of December, I got sick for the first time in three years. And my body did exactly what it was supposed to do – it worked to fight off the virus. However, something else happened immediately following this illness. It triggered a lupus flare where my body is no longer fighting germs … it is fighting me!
As I drove this morning and reflected on my current health situation – a thought came to me. I thought about spiritual warfare – how we are admonished in I Timothy 6:12 to, ‘Fight the good fight of the faith …’
I also thought about how easy it is to get off track.
Similar to the way our bodies are designed to fight regular illness, we are equipped spiritually to fight ungodly invaders. However, like lupus, there is that potential to lose focus and go into overdrive – where we attack good things – like the people in our lives.
We must remember …
‘We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.’ Ephesians 6:12 ESV
We must fight the good fight …
But we also must fight the right fight!
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