God’s Way of Dealing With Cancer and Sin
One of the most painful diseases one has to go through is cancer. Anyone who has witnessed someone die from this disease can attest to the gut wrenching pain one goes through before it’s over. What’s even more staggering is how many people have had to deal with cancer. Just last year, over 1.4 million died in America because of cancer and it’s been estimated that every five minutes, somewhere in America, someone is diagnosed with cancer. Very rarely do you meet anyone who has not been affected by what some people have called the disease of the century. I personally have had family members who have died because of cancer. I currently have family members who are subjected to chemotherapy, radiation, or medication to fight this disease, and by the time you read this article, one of my friends whom I just talked to today, would have already died from pancreatic cancer. It’s been my experience that when a family member is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family gets affected. If a family is a closed knit family, the experience becomes even more painful for each family member. As one sees the physical, emotional, and sometimes spiritual trauma one goes through, either as they personally fight with cancer or as they witness someone with it, the question that is usually asked is, “Where is God while we’re going through this experience?” Surely a God who claims to be all powerful and all caring would heal people from this disease, especially those who worship Him. But because it doesn’t happen, all thoughout the world, in every hospital and home, millions of people ask, “Why God, why me, why now, and why don’t you just do something about it?”
Because of one’s intense suffering, it’s very easy to come to the conclusion that either God doesn’t exist or He just doesn’t care. As a Christian, however, I have a very different view of suffering and I would like to share it with you. I understand that there is no way to answer all the questions about how God deals with cancer, much less to do it in 900 words or less. In the first place I’m not God and secondly I’m really not that smart, but I think we can know how God deals with this disease by knowing how He deals with sin.
Sin has many similarities with cancer.
They are both deadly. Once cancer or sin is in you, YOU WILL DIE, the only question is when.
The only way to win over sin or cancer is to have it taken away from you. For cancer it’s through surgery, with sin, it’s only through Christ.
I used to think that it was strange for Jesus to say, “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…or if your hand causes you to sin cut it off (Matthew 5:29,30).” To Jesus, it is better for you not to have body parts and get to heaven than for you to have them and die. Any person who has been diagnosed with cancer knows the only way to deal with cancer is to take it out, by any means necessary. Even if it is through killing the good cells so you can kill the cancer cells, which is what chemotherapy is about, you need to do everything you can to take the cancer out.
Cancer affects every part of your body. Sin will affect every part of your life. It’s just a matter of time before a controllable disease, if it’s not dealt with, will become an uncontrollable one. Sin will eventually control all your relationships, your self-esteem and eventually your eternal future.
So how does God deal with sin?
He personally takes it out. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
He heals us from the effects of sin. That is what the cleansing us from all unrighteousness is about.
He promises those who trust in Him that He will bring them to a place where there is no sin, or cancer, and that place is heaven.
At the very least, if we can conclude that if God has a plan for sin that actually works, then he definitely has a successful plan for cancer. The journey we all must take would be to find out what that plan is. What I have found is there is a huge difference between people who trust God and His plan when it comes to dealing with sin and cancer. I think I can narrow that difference down to one word: HOPE. As each person eventually faces the effects of sin, or cancer, those who face it with God, face it with HOPE, those who don’t have a relationship with God, face it with HOPELESSNESS. Their reactions are quite different. Both sets of people cry, but the former can smile through the tears. Both are resigned to the consequences, but the former is looking forward to a new beginning. Both suffer immensely, but the former knows the pain is temporary, the latter thinks it’s the end. The former goes through the journey knowing their God is with them every step of the way, the latter experiences it alone. I can only pray that no one who reads this article ever have to face sin or cancer alone.
This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This article is dedicated to my lovely wife and to all the brave people who face the hardships of cancer. If you have any questions or would like to respond to this article, please do so at www.pastorfrendell@gmail.com.
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