ON THE VANGUARD

VERTIGO
“Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.”
I Corinthians 15:34

About a year ago I was talking to a co-worker who advised me his wife had been diagnosed with vertigo. I was unaware of what vertigo really was so he took the time to explain it to me. The technical definition would be a dizziness one has, feeling like they are in constant motion when really they are not moving at all. In many cases one can experience nausea with vertigo, as he wife was, and one can also have troubles simply standing up or walking. Doctors have found that in most cases vertigo can be caused by a concussion or vestibular migraine, while a few cases have been linked to excessive drinking or a disease known as Meniere’s disease.
Now I by no means claim to be a doctor, so I will spare you with anymore fancy wording and disease names that I found only when researching vertigo itself. However, I do want to ask one question. Do you think it is possible that God gets vertigo from our actions? Let me explain. I have seen many Christians, and probably fit in this category myself when I am honest, who long to do God’s will. They start off well and on fire, then find the draw of sin to be more than they can handle. Soon enough they give in. Yet in time, and sometimes by a life defining accident or change, they come back to God with a new zeal for Him and a promise to once again live for God all the days of their life. But ‘all the days of their life’ is only about another couple weeks, months, or a year before they are again enjoying the sin that they swore they would never return to. I wonder with all this back and forth, promising and breaking promises, if God ever gets vertigo.
When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he made a point to address their habit of sinning. Paul wrote, “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.” We should look at this verse in context. Just verses before Paul writes concerning the sin of Adam and how in Adam all men have died, so in Christ all men are made alive (v22). Our sin no longer defines us, but also no longer has power over us. In fact, according to verse 27, God puts everything under His feet. Because of this we no longer have the excuse that we are sinful man, helpless to ever change. No, through God is our ability to change. And because God not only wants us to change but helps us to change, then we should do as Paul states and come back to our senses, ceasing a lifestyle of sin.
In Matthew Henry’s Commentary he writes concerning this passage, “Let us not be joined with ungodly men; but warn all around us, especially children and young persons, to shun them as a pestilence. Let us awake to righteousness, and not sin.” This is a bold and strong command to stop sinning, but it is God’s command and we must obey it. The truth is I believe God does grow weary of our back and forth. God suffers from vertigo when He watches us so casually flip from one side to the other. Do you want to know why I say this? Because of Revelation 3:16. Going back and forth from sin to a right lifestyle, then back to sin, then back to a right lifestyle, is nothing more than going from hot to cold in our spiritual walk. It is to the one who is lukewarm that God says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” If one of the symptoms that comes with vertigo is nausea, then I pray it is not I who makes God sick and dizzy any longer.