3 Things High Blood Pressure Taught Me About Sin

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it finally caught up to me. Shoving my face with burgers and pizza has given me high blood pressure, and after seeing the doctor because of a two week long headache, he told me I was in danger of a stroke and now I am medicated. I wish to use this opportunity to make a few cheap and easy points about sin.

1) Sin, like High Blood Pressure, can be silent but deadly. In the last year or so, I've had some pretty bad headaches/hypertension. Pain on the top of my head as well as on the back of my neck. But I thought I could sleep it off, and it was usually gone within a day with some sleep. In the moment, I would think, "Aw man, I really need to cut back on the sugar and salt" and I wouldn't take in anything that day, but then when it went away, I felt invincible again, and next think you know, I'm taking home twelve hamburger patties from my friend David's wedding, wondering if I can have a normal relationship with a woman and be healthy enough for kids. Likewise, when we sin, we don't always immediately feel the effects, even though the effects are still real. Sure, maybe watching pornography and whacking your weenie doesn't seem to affect anyone or even yourself during the moment. That is, until, the guilt due your sin making you guilty catches up to you, and you think, 'Aw man, I really need to cut back on that' and you're genuinely repentant that day, but when the guilt goes away, and you feel invincible again, next thing you know you're on page fifty on some porn site, and now you can't even look at girl without some pornographic image popping into your head, and now you wonder if you can have a normal relationship with a woman. Sure, at the time it didn't seem like a big deal, but now you gotta reap these consequences that will probably take a long time to defeat. I'll be on medication for at least three months.

2) Some doctors suck. Some priests (or pastors, whatever) also suck. But that doesn't mean medicine isn't real. I tried to see my doctor and set up an appointment, but it would take about two months to see him (yay socialized medicine!) And when I tried to do a walk in, he wasn't seeing anybody, because even though his hours say 10-5, he only sees patients the first two hours while the rest is for paperwork. So yeah, my doctor sucks. And yeah, I need a new doctor. But still, when he does his job, and he does it well, I do benefit. But his bad practice has definitely kept me away. Yeah, there's a lot of scandal in the church right now. You thought the Southern Baptists had it bad a few months ago? The attack Satan has thrown at the Catholic Church makes that look like child's play. And there are whispers of weak Catholics wishing to leave. Satan has struck the shepherds, and the sheep will scatter. The sheep will be judged for leaving, but not as harshly as the shepherds who let it happen. So, does the existence of bad doctors mean I shouldn't see a doctor or does it mean I shouldn't take medicine? Not at all. Do bad priests/pastors mean we stop receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, the medicine of life, just because those who distribute Him do a bad job in their practice? Not at all. Should they be fired? Definitely. Should I not see them? Definitely not a good idea to avoid doctors. There's a good sermon by Paul Washer where he makes a comparison between doctors and preachers, and how many Baptists preachers should be fired and how doctors would be fired if they acted like preachers. Watch below.

Bad pastors don't invalidate Jesus. Bad doctors don't invalidate medicine.

3) Humble pie doesn't taste good. Part of my repentance of my unhealthy lifestyle is that now I have to eat healthy. I mean, I should have been eating healthy anyways not put leftover nacho cheese on everything, but now I have to eat healthy. My good friend Lauren, an up and coming dietician with a dope website on food and faith, recommended to me beet juice. My other friend Jordan recommended to me a salt that, like, isn't as salty, which I guess answers Jesus' question about whether salt can lose its saltiness. And guys, beet juice straight up taste like dirt. Sweet dirt, like an earthy carrot juice, but I mean, I'm not chugging beet juice any time soon. And it sucks. But that's what repentance is. It's eating that humble pie, and humble pie sucks. I remember I was praying with my friends Greg and Devin a few years ago, because I had a bad attitude, and I remember really struggling and fighting in that prayer, and swallowing my ego, and while I forget the content of that prayer, I will not ever forget my fight with my pride in our prayers. Sure, sin sometimes looks nice, comes sugarcoated, with a side of seasoned fries. And sure, sometimes sin feels really good in the moment, but when you have to later burn the calories or reduce your blood sugar or your blood pressure because you indulged yourself, suddenly sin doesn't feel so good. So, maybe pass up on the Rite Aid Ice Cream, and pass up any other occasion to sin (not that ice cream is sin, except maybe pistachio ice cream).