Chucking a "sickie"

In Australia, we have a phrase: 'chucking a sickie'. It's code for calling in to work "sick" so you can spend the day with your mates at the beach or the cricket.

For a Christian worker taking any kind of sick day can feel equally irresponsible.

Sure, you might not be lying on the beach. But even if you're genuinely unwell, lying in bed watching Netflix and sipping ginger tea can feel like a cop-out.

I felt this when I took a day-off this week.

It almost felt wrong.

Why is that?

What makes me (and I suspect many of us in ministry) so reluctant to call in sick?

And more to the point, why is it good for us to do so?

Here’s some thoughts.

What stops us?

I wonder if a big part of our reluctance comes from a good place.

There’s so many great things in our churches and ministries to be doing and so taking a day off means missing out. Missing out on being part of it, but worse, missing out on the opportunities to share Jesus and serve others.

Connected to this is we don’t want to discourage people.

For example, on campus this week our ministry ran a big evangelistic event. I'd been part of organising that and had encouraged the other staff and students to be involved. For me not to show felt like a massive discouragement to them. And so even though I was not well, I pushed myself to be there.

The sinister side to these good motivations is our pride.

Just as not showing up can be a discouragement, so too can it make us look bad. It makes us seem uncommitted to the cause or worse ‘weak’. I mean, "if the apostles were able to endure shipwrecks and floggings surely I can cop a runny nose and a headache, can’t I?" Worse yet, showing up sick can even earn us ministry 'kudos'. One student who knew I wasn't well even prayed, giving thanks for my example in turning up.

Why it's good for us?

But though there’s lots of reasons - good and bad - for not taking sick days, I believe we serve God more faithfully when we stop and let our bodies heal.

For one, it recognises our finitude.

Each one of us is a finite creature ministering in a decaying body awaiting redemption at Jesus’ return. To admit we get sick and require healing is testimony to that.

I just love Paul’s oft-handed instruction to Timothy:

''…stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses' (1 Tim 5:23)

Timothy’s illnesses did not make him less worthy as a gospel worker; they were just part of his fallen human experience. So too are they part of ours. And just as it was right for him to look after himself with 'a little wine' (medicine was more primitive back then), so too medication and dare I say 'rest' make good practice for us.

A willingness to take a 'sick day' also affirms ministry as a work of God’s grace through us, not an act of our grace to Him.

Put bluntly, God does not need us to turn-up sick for his purposes to come about. Nor will a day spent sucking butter menthols and binge-watching 'Succession' bring down his kingdom. Yes, he calls us to work hard. Yes, he calls us to be faithful. But sometimes faithfulness involves not showing up and trusting him to work, even when we can't.

In fact, if anything, it's often in these moments that God chooses to do great things as he raises up others to step into the void and displays his power through our weakness.

The last reason we need to take sick days is out of love for others (and not just because it means not spreading our germs over them).

When Moses reiterates the sabbath law to Israel in Deuteronomy 5 he includes a fascinating expansion. He commands the people to rest on the seventh day:

'…so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do' (Deut 5:14)

In addition to resting as an acknowledgment of God's rescue of them from Egypt, Moses tells the people to rest so that others are able to.

I wonder if the same principle might be applied when we’re unwell.

When we stop and allow our bodies to heal, we love others for it gives them permission to do the same when they are sick. In fact, when leaders don’t stop we unintentionally communicate that ‘soldiering on’ is the godly thing to do.

So let's do it!

So friends, let’s be willing to take the occasional ‘sickie’. Not so we can laze on the beach but because we and those we lead are finite vessels who get sick and who need rest to heal.

God gets this!

In fact, He sent his Son Jesus, who experienced suffering and sickness and died – in part – to redeem our bodies from these things. Let’s do more than pay him lip-service as we rest-up entrusting ourselves to Him.