{"id":36553,"date":"2022-06-03T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T11:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/40-year-old-injured-by-sleeping-wrong-way\/"},"modified":"2022-06-03T11:59:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T11:59:00","slug":"40-year-old-injured-by-sleeping-wrong-way","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/40-year-old-injured-by-sleeping-wrong-way\/","title":{"rendered":"40-Year-Old Injured by \u2018Sleeping the Wrong Way\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his book, What God Has To Say About Our Bodies<\/em>, Sam Allberry shares the following:<\/p>\n\n

\n

Certain things change when you turn forty:<\/p>\n

• The world starts becoming too loud.<\/p>\n

• You get excited about going to bed.<\/p>\n

• You still get badly hurt, but now you don't have a good story for it.<\/p>\n

The fact is, when you're under forty and injured, it's usually because you were doing something exciting—jumping out of a plane, or wrestling a shark. If you're over forty, your most serious injuries come just from sleeping.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, I was staying in an unfamiliar hotel and woke the first morning with hot, searing pain through my shoul­der. It felt like I'd just been mortally stabbed by a Ringwraith from Lord of the Rings<\/em>. It was agony. I called reception and they sent the hospital doctor to see me.<\/p>\n

In the end, he had to inject some painkillers—using the largest needle I had ever seen not being used on an elephant. All this, and what had I done? He told me I'd slept on my shoulder "the wrong way." One of the most painful things I'd ever done to myself, and the cause was lying in bed sleeping.<\/p>\n

Our bodies have been fearfully and wonderfully made. But they also cause us pain. The same Bible that shows them to be God's handiwork also describes them as "earthen vessels" or "jars of clay" (2 Cor. 4:7). This simple metaphor might tell us more than we realize at first. Jars of clay are not just humble. They're weak and fragile. Invariably, in this world, they break.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Possible Preaching Angle: <\/em><\/h2>\n\n

But for the Christian, the ultimate end is not brokenness. There is a day coming in which our bodies will be redeemed and changed. He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). “Our bodies are sown in weakness; they will be raised in strength” (1 Cor. 15:43). <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[405,406,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3399,3401,3509,3599,3784,3851,4175,4181,4192,4445,4558,4584,4828,4829,4970,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[397],"class_list":["post-36553","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-age","tax_ctp_tags-aging","tax_ctp_tags-body","tax_ctp_tags-christlikeness","tax_ctp_tags-disabilities","tax_ctp_tags-elderly","tax_ctp_tags-human-body","tax_ctp_tags-human-nature","tax_ctp_tags-humility","tax_ctp_tags-medical-care","tax_ctp_tags-old-age","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-resurrection","tax_ctp_tags-resurrection-of-believers","tax_ctp_tags-short-life","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n40-Year-Old Injured by \u2018Sleeping the Wrong Way\u2019 - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/40-year-old-injured-by-sleeping-wrong-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"40-Year-Old Injured by \u2018Sleeping the Wrong Way\u2019 - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book, What God Has To Say About Our Bodies, Sam Allberry shares the following: Certain things change when you turn forty: • The world starts becoming too loud. • You get excited about going to bed. • You still get badly hurt, but now you don't have a good story for it. 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