The Cure

Short Description: There is a "disease" more horrible than cancer--a spiritual disease called sin.

Full Text: A longtime sales executive and friend of many died only two months after the doctors discovered he had cancer. No one knows how long Chuck had carried the disease around without knowing it was there. And his not knowing it was there didn't keep the disease from attacking him from within and eventually taking his life.

Actually, we all have a deadly "disease" within us. Some of us deny its existence. Others know it's there but refuse to acknowledge its power to kill us. Others recognize their peril but are sure they will have plenty of time to deal with the problem later.

This inner affliction that threatens us, this internal enemy that is silently killing us from within, is a spiritual affliction. It is sin--our habit of thinking and doing what we know to be morally wrong. Unlike cancer, this malady is a choice. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We all deliberately disobey God's commands and fall short of perfection. And the Bible is totally honest about its effects: "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Every one of us has at some time or another given in to impure thoughts or selfish actions or cruel behavior, and even many of the right things we do are done for the wrong reasons. Our waywardness has terrible consequences and will ultimately result in eternal separation from God. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23)--death for our souls.

If we're honest about our condition, we will admit the fallenness of our hearts and minds. We may dress up our lives with religion or the Golden Rule or success or an expensive lifestyle, but we know deep within ourselves that something is terribly wrong. We are terminally ill in a spiritual sense. The Bible tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Though we are not as bad as we could be--"I'm not a Hitler or a John Wayne Gacy," we tell ourselves--we are all addicted to our sinful ways.

But the good news is that even though none of us can change his or her own sinful heart, there is a cure. God offers to forgive us for all our sins, to defeat the silent killer within us, to make us whole in our minds and souls. The Bible says, "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love" (Psalm 145:8). God is "gracious" (He is willing to give us invaluable spiritual gifts we don't deserve), "compassionate" (He feels what we feel, and He cares), "slow to anger" (each day we live is another opportunity to receive His gift of salvation), and "rich in love."

Will you continue to ignore the sin that, left unchecked, will someday put you under eternal damnation? Or will you receive God's gift of forgiveness? He sent His Son to die for your sins so you could be saved. "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "[Christ] bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you [can be] healed" (1 Peter 2:24). "The blood of Jesus, [God's] Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). He died to cure our souls.

The sales executive died from a cancer he didn't know he had, but he is now in heaven because he knew Jesus as his Savior. Do you know the Savior? Cancer is a terrible disease, but our sin problem is even more horrible and deadly. But God wants to show you mercy.

You can ask God to change you from the inside out today. "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Reach out to Jesus today, and He will give you newness of life! To receive Him, just sincerely pray a prayer like this:

Lord Jesus, I believe You died on the cross for me--that You were punished for my sins so I could be set free and healed spiritually. I now turn away from evil and ask You to be my personal Savior and Lord. Please forgive me for my sins and make me a part of your family forever.

© 2003 Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
Translated by permission of Good News Publishers
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