Life-Giving Words of Hope & Encouragement

I unplugged this weekend.

No notifications. No news cycle. No constant buzzing in my pocket asking for attention. I sat down and watched the extended cut of The Hobbit, something I had not done in a long time. I expected adventure, nostalgia, maybe a little escape. What I did not expect was a spiritual gut check.

As the story unfolded, one theme kept pressing on me. The sickness of gold.

In Tolkien’s world, the dwarf kings do not just possess gold. The gold possesses them. It is called “dragon sickness,” a kind of spiritual and emotional corruption where obsession, fear, pride, and paranoia take root. The gold itself is not evil. It is the way it is clutched, hoarded, defended, and worshiped that makes everything around it rot.

And as I watched, I realized this is not just fantasy.

Where sickness thrives, bad things always follow.

Sickness Is Rarely Loud at First

One of the most unsettling things about the dwarf kings’ gold sickness is how quietly it begins. There is no sudden collapse. No dramatic announcement. Just a slow narrowing of vision.

What once was meant to bless a people becomes the very thing that isolates them.

That is how sickness works in the soul.

It rarely arrives shouting. It whispers. It convinces. It justifies. It tells us we are being wise when we are really becoming guarded. It tells us we are protecting something valuable when we are actually being consumed by it.

Jesus warned us about this dynamic when He said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Your heart always follows what you prize most.

When the Center Gets Sick, Everything Else Follows

In The Hobbit, once the king’s heart is corrupted by the gold, everything downstream is affected. Relationships fracture. Trust evaporates. Peace disappears. Even good counsel is rejected. Suspicion becomes the default posture.

That is not just a story. That is a spiritual law.

When the center of our lives becomes sick, our decisions get sick.
Our relationships get sick.
Our reactions get sick.
Our worship gets sick.
Our vision gets sick.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Everything flows from it. Not some things. Not spiritual things only. Everything.

If bitterness sits in the heart, words will eventually carry poison.
If greed sits in the heart, generosity will dry up.
If fear sits in the heart, control will take over.
If pride sits in the heart, humility will feel like a threat.

Where sickness thrives, bad fruit follows.

Gold Is Not the Only Thing That Can Get Sick

Most of us are not hoarding piles of gold under a mountain. But we do hoard other things.

Control.
Approval.
Offense.
Comfort.
Success.
Security.
Pain.
Identity built on the past.

None of these things are inherently evil. Just like gold, they can be gifts. But when they move from our hands into our hearts, they begin to rule us.

Paul warns Timothy, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Notice it is not money. It is love. It is devotion. It is obsession. It is trust placed where only God belongs.

Dragon sickness is what happens when something good becomes god.

Sickness Always Isolates

One of the saddest moments in The Hobbit is watching a king surrounded by wealth but utterly alone. He cannot hear reason. He cannot see loyalty. He cannot recognize danger in himself.

Sickness isolates before it destroys.

Sin does not just break rules. It breaks relationships.

Hebrews 3:13 warns us, “Encourage one another daily… so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

Deceitfulness is key. Sin lies about the cost. It promises safety while building a prison. It promises power while stealing peace.

That is why isolation is never neutral. When we pull away from godly voices, accountability, confession, and community, sickness grows unchecked.

Jesus Heals the Source, Not Just the Symptoms

What struck me most as I reflected was this. God does not just want to take bad behavior away. He wants to heal sick hearts.

Jesus consistently went after the root.

When He confronted the Pharisees, He said, “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and self indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25)

Outside polish does not cure inside sickness.

The gospel is not behavior modification. It is heart transformation.

Ezekiel 36:26 promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

God does not manage sickness. He replaces the heart.

The Opposite of Sickness Is Surrender

The dwarf kings fell because they tightened their grip. They could not release control. They could not trust anyone else with what they valued.

Surrender feels like loss to a sick heart. But surrender is freedom to a healed one.

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

Open hands stay healthy.
Closed fists get infected.

What we cling to too tightly will eventually poison us.

A Gentle Question Worth Asking

Watching that film forced me to ask a question that every believer needs to ask regularly.

What am I guarding more fiercely than my heart?

Is there something I am defending at the cost of peace?
Is there something I fear losing more than I fear drifting from God?
Is there something that has slowly become untouchable in my life?

Psalm 139:23–24 gives us the prayer we all need, “Search me, God, and know my heart… See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

God does not expose sickness to shame us. He exposes it to heal us.

Healing Is Always Available

The good news is this. No heart is too sick for Jesus to heal.

He healed lepers.
He healed the demonized.
He healed the proud.
He healed the broken.
He healed the greedy.
He healed the fearful.

Where sickness once thrived, grace can reign.

Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”

Bad things follow sickness, but restoration follows repentance.
Death follows unchecked corruption, but life follows surrender.
Bondage follows obsession, but freedom follows trust.

You do not have to live guarded, clenched, and exhausted.

There is a better kingdom.
There is a better treasure.
There is a better King.

And His riches do not rot the soul. They restore it.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for loving me enough to show me what can quietly grow sick in my heart. I do not want to cling to anything that pulls me away from You. Search me, heal me, and free me. Where fear has ruled, bring trust. Where pride has hardened me, bring humility. Where obsession has taken root, bring surrender. I choose open hands and a soft heart. Restore what sickness has touched and lead me in the way everlasting. In Jesus’ name, Amen.