The Purifying Fire of Inflammation

Remove the attempts to protect yourself from pain and you just might find complete healing.

Inflammation is part of how God heals us. The word inflammation comes from the Latin inflammare, which means to set on fire. Fire might seem like a bad thing, but it’s really a good thing. The Bible even tells us that one of the names of God is Purifying Fire (Malachi 3:3). In the forest, fire has a multitude of ecological benefits releasing a new generation of bio-diversity, growth and life. Just like rain and snow, fire is a part of the natural system and order of created things. In the body, this purifying fire is inflammation.

Inflammation is not a synonym of infection. Infection is bad. Infection is caused by exogenous pathogen: germs from outside the body. Inflammation is a protective attempt to remove injurious stimuli. It’s a complex biological response of our tissue (our physical flesh) to reject and remove harmful irritants. It evidence is as purifying fire: redness, heat, swelling and pain.

In God‘s economy, pain always serves a redemptive purpose. Without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal and the rapid destruction of living tissue progresses until it compromises the survival of the living organism. Inflammation is no accident of random evolutionary mutation; it is a central part of a wonderful and intelligent design. It is a utility written mysteriously into the code of human flesh by the Author of Life itself.

Many things in the physical and in the natural are mirrored in the spiritual realm, as well. Inflammation is no exception.