Addicted

Here I sit at 4 a.m., contemplating oxygen.

And in the dark stillness of the night, I have discovered an appalling fact regarding myself.

It’s true. No matter how vociferously I deny it, the fact remains.

I am addicted to oxygen!

I suspect I am not alone. And, like others, I don’t have any desire to overcome this particular addiction. What I’d like to overcome is the asthma which keeps me from drawing enough oxygen into my lungs. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem possible at this present time, so here I sit in the middle of the night, sipping a cup of herbal tea and pondering the process of breathing which most humans take for granted.

Breathing is supposed to be one of those involuntary reflexes people don’t need to consciously guide. Even those of us with asthma don’t think about every breath we take, just the ones we struggle for. If everything is working right, our lungs automatically expel a mixture of carbon dioxide and other gases, then expand to take in life-giving oxygen. This oxygen then travels throughout our bodies, giving life and healing to every cell of every organ. Without the oxygen, cells start to die, thinking becomes fuzzy, organs slow down and cease to function.

Did you ever wonder how this wonderful system of air circulation originated?

Evolutionists would have us believe that humans started as slimy creatures which crawled out of the mud which came from somewhere, developed lungs out of something, and automatically started gasping the air which had spontaneously originated from somewhere.

Far easier to believe is the Genesis account of creation:

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground
And breathed the breath of life into his nostrils,
And the man became a living being.
~Genesis 2:7 (CSB)

Man’s original breath came directly from the Creator God! That thought amazes me. God breathed life-giving air into Adam, then Adam breathed, and every living being from then until now has had lungs which automatically expand to pull in the precious breath of life.

The prophet Daniel, in his rebuke to King Belshazzar, refers to

“…the God who holds your life-breath in His hand
And who controls the whole course of your life.”
~Daniel 5:23

God holds my life-breath in His hand. What a comforting thought.

But the “breath of life” does not merely exist in the physical realm. Spiritually, people are dead in their trespasses and sins until they accept God’s free gift of salvation and become alive in Christ (Romans 6:11). At that point, the Holy Spirit begins to breathe life into their spirit until they are “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man… so that [they] may be filled with the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19). God, who saw in His newly-created man the need for physical life, also saw in us the need for spiritual life and invented spiritual CPR!

God’s Holy Spirit can breathe spiritual life into me in such a way that I will become a new person, alive to God and dead to sin. Amazing.

The English rector and Oxford scholar Edwin Hatch must have also been intrigued by the idea, for he penned the words to the beloved old hymn, Breathe on Me, Breath of God.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.

"Breathe on me."

Breath is such an intimate thing, isn’t it? You have to really love someone in order to not mind feeling their breath on you. But I still can’t imagine asking someone to breathe on me.

Unless it is God Himself, the originator of life, the One who has redeemed my soul and given me new life in Christ, the One who can make me a new person, alive in Christ and dead to sin. His breath of spiritual life is something I need to be addicted to.

Breathe on me, Breath of Life.

Please.