Do allergies rule your life?
Physical, Emotional & Spiritual
By Dave Batty
Our family had a near death experience with allergies several years ago when our daughter Michelle (then 33 yrs. old) had a severe allergic reaction. She survived the 30 minute drive to the hospital only because she self-administered 2 epi-pen shots that she had with her because her daughter had earlier been diagnosed with a severe allergy to red food dye.
Over the next 7 days in the hospital she coded twice as doctors struggled to identify the cause of her allergic reactions. It was food—especially nuts and soy products—and a long list more. It was 18 months later that the diagnosis was finally confirmed at Mayo Clinic. (A special thanks to all who prayed for her.)
So what is an allergy? The laymen’s explanation of physical allergies—our immune system incorrectly identifies something as a threat and ends up declaring civil war on our own body—destroying good cells instead of the enemy. Many of us are allergic to poison ivy. The plant is not poisonous (like a snake bite), but our flawed immune system interprets the oils of this plant as dangerous and keeps fighting the parts of our body that have touched the plant. The person with the healthy immune system can touch poison ivy with no problem.
Sallie Culbreth in her Committed to Freedom training talks about emotional allergies—where people react negatively or over-react to problems in life because they are not emotionally healthy. For example, refusing to forgive someone who has hurt you can lead to bitterness and anger on the inside which builds to volcanic proportions. New problems or challenges of today can be the trigger to set off an emotional “allergic reaction” that leads to destructive reactions—anger, broken relationships, depression, anxiety attacks, and more. These unresolved problems from the past prevent the person from healing and moving on the path to healthy living.
The big difference between emotional allergies and physical allergies, is that we do have the power to heal ourselves—with God’s help. God has a process by which we can experience genuine healing in our lives as we seek to apply his principles to relationships with others, especially those who have hurt us in the past.
So what are spiritual allergies? Our sinful nature predisposes us to have an unhealthy attraction to sin. Instead of seeing temptations to sin as destructive, we ignore the danger signs posted in God’s Word. In fact we have a negative reaction to God’s truth which tells us how to deal with certain problems. Because we fail to embrace God’s truth, we allow sin into our lives, and we bring destructive consequences into our walk with Jesus.
The spiritually healthy person is the one who embraces God’s truth, and lives it out on a daily basis. We accurately diagnose sin and choose to attack it and destroy its presence in our lives. As 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (NIV)
On this side of heaven, we may have to learn how to live with our physical allergies—they are ever present reminders that we live in a flawed body. Our emotional allergies may be severe because of the deep hurts we have experienced at the hands of those who should have been our protectors or our friends. But we have power to minimize the present impact of these past hurts by embracing the solutions God has for us. The same is true for spiritual allergies—we can fix our eyes on Jesus, and seek to walk in his truth each day. We will not achieve perfection here, but we can walk in health—emotional and spiritual health.
Every day in Teen Challenge we are working with people who are broken—suffering from all kinds of “allergies” that are destroying their lives—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We need to be setting a positive example of healthy living and point them to the path Jesus has marked out for them.