Breathing

For most of us, breathing is one of the most natural parts of living. It is an involuntary function. We usually don’t pause to think about because it happens whether or not we are conscious of it. In fact, we often take it for granted.

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Yet it is perhaps the most important function in our body. Without oxygen, our organs will not function properly. Without oxygen, we cannot live.

I am an asthmatic, so my ability to breathe is compromised by certain triggers, which inflame and narrow my airways. Like most of you, though, I usually do not have to think about breathing. As long as I am careful, avoid the triggers, and take my medication, I am fine.

A couple of days ago, I was hit with a nasty upper respiratory virus that settled right in my chest. As a result, I have had to be conscious of every breath I take, struggling painfully to draw air in and fighting the fatigue that comes from lowered oxygen levels.  It struck me yesterday how often I take breathing for granted…how often I fail to be thankful when I can breathe unhindered. And then I thought of a spiritual parallel.

A person who cannot breathe normally or is not breathing at all is obviously unhealthy. His or her body is not functioning as it was designed to. It is the same way in our spiritual lives. Unless we are in fellowship with Christ, reading and meditating on His Word, and praying, we are spiritually unhealthy. These things are the “oxygen” of our spiritual lives.

Furthermore, when we stop and consider it, it is only because of God’s mercy and grace that we can function physically as well. “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Christ is our all. He sustains us, allowing us to live for the next minute, the next hour, the next day. “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17).

If you are a Christian, then God has left you on this planet to do one thing: His will. Christ is our reason for breathing air – for living. We are left here to do His bidding, to carry the cross, to share in His sufferings, and to honour and glorify His name.

And the most wonderful thing of all is that He gives us the power to do His will. “For without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Without Christ, we are nothing and can do nothing. He created us to live in harmony with Him, but it’s our choice. My choice. Your choice. He doesn’t force us to love Him. We have to choose to love Him, to obey Him, and to yield ourselves to Him. We must rid ourselves of the last strands of the husk of our independence, casting ourselves in dependency upon Him. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (II Corinthians 3:5). And all the while, He waits patiently for us, ready to give His everlasting strength (Isaiah 26:4) and His all sufficient grace (II Corinthians 12:9).

I can choose not to take my medication and sit there, struggling all the more, but I won’t be healthy. I won’t have peace. I’ll be exhausted. Anxious. Restless.

But if I decide to take the medicine, my lungs will open and the oxygen will flow in. I’ll have more energy. Be more alert. And my body will function more like it is supposed to.

The same goes for my spiritual life. If I dig my heels in and try to do things on my own strength, I’ll end up worn out, frustrated, and ineffective. I have to choose to cast my cares upon the Lord, letting Him work in me and through me to do His will. That’s the only path to lasting joy and peace.

“Am I not enough, Mine own?

Enough, Mine own, for thee?

All shalt thou find at last,

Only in Me.

Am I not enough, Mine own?

I, for ever and alone, I, needing thee?”

 – Ter Steegen