Ripples Ministry

It starts small, unnoticed, beyond prying eyes. Deep within, hidden from light, a change begins. We continue our lives as though nothing has changed – It has. And if we knew what was happening, we would be dealing with it now.

But we don’t.

A cell that was once normal begins to change. We don’t understand all the reasons for this change, but it occurs nonetheless. Slowly, it begins to spread to the cells around it and the change gets a life of its own. We don’t notice it yet. It hasn’t interfered with our lives. We continue as if the world was glorious and our whole lives stretch before us – It isn’t and the end is closer than we know.

Of course I am speaking of cancer and its insidious entry into our lives that changes everything. But I could just as easily be speaking about sin.

Sin starts off in very much the same way that cancer begins in our bodies. It starts off small, unnoticed, and hidden. Perhaps it is a thought that crosses our mind and rather than turning it over immediately to God, we allow it to settle for a moment, to gain a small foothold in our heart.

Galatians 5:7-10 tells us…
“⁷You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? ⁸This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. ⁹A little leaven leavens the whole lump. ¹⁰I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.” (Emphasis mine)

A single cancer cell turns into many. Caught early the chances of survival are good. Ignoring the signs and symptoms can be disastrous.

Cancer is divided into stages. These stages are a corollary to our place with sin in our lives. Wikipedia defines the staging of cancer in this way – “The stage of a cancer is a descriptor (usually numbers I to IV) of how much the cancer has spread. The stage often takes into account the size of a tumor, how deeply it has penetrated, whether it has invaded adjacent organs, how many lymph nodes it has metastasized to (if any), and whether it has spread to distant organs. Staging of cancer is important because the stage at diagnosis is the most powerful predictor of survival, and treatments are often changed based on the stage.”

Cancer Stage I – This is where the cells are localized and therefore treatment is relatively simple. The affected cells are removed, along with surrounding healthy tissue to ensure that none have escaped detection. There is some pain of course, but treatment almost always has some pain involved.

When our sin is small, such as a thought which we have been dwelling on, treatment is relatively simple. If we confess our sin to God, turn it over to Him, He is faithful to forgive us (John 1:9) and the ramifications on our lives are small. Confession does not come without pain however. We must realize that we have, yet again, fallen short of God’s holy mark for our lives. Unfortunately, too often we do not deal with our sin at this point.

When cancer reaches stage II it begins to get complicated. No longer is the disease process confined to a single place. It has begun to spread. It now affects nearby organs but is still usually treated with great success. The pain for treatment and recovery are elevated from stage I though.

Sin that has progressed passed stage I in our lives is sin that has begun to be acted upon. Perhaps there was someone at work you were thinking about – even though you are a happily married. It begins with innocent flirting and playful contact that may appear innocent on the surface, but in your heart there is something darker driving it. It is sin. It is a disease to your soul and if you continue, it will surely destroy the holiness God has called you to.

Sometimes this can be the toughest stage to deal with. We convince ourselves that we really haven’t done anything yet. We are only playing on the fringes of sin, but realize that this is a lie. Jesus tells us that if we have committed something in our heart that we are already guilty (Matthew 5:27). We still however make excuses for our behavior and this is most often why we move quickly to stage III.

Stage III cancer begins to get very serious. For now the tentacles of the disease have spread to neighboring lymph nodes and are in danger of spreading to the entire body. This stage is much more difficult to treat, often involving very invasive surgery and possibly chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Your odds of survival begin to drop rapidly at this point and you wish you have heeded the warning signs when you first saw them. You may miss work, not to mention the financial and emotional strain on you and those you love. There is still hope however.

Unrepentant sin also mirrors this stage of cancer. Now our sin has spread from us to others. We are now, either directly or indirectly involving other people in our sin. They are both participating and following us or they are the victims of our behavior. Families and marriages are torn apart. Careers are ruined. Works of a lifetime come crashing down. Witness the recent fall of Tiger Woods for a prime example of sin out of control. God can still restore what the locust has eaten at this point but the treatment may be long and painful and the cost high.

Stage IV is serious indeed. It is often referred to as metastatic cancer, meaning that it has spread throughout the body. Often at this stage, our prognosis is poor and death can sometimes be imminent. Doctors will do their very best, but at this point success cannot be guaranteed.

If you wait until your sin has spread to this point, you are in danger of eternal separation from God. We can allow sin to become so deeply imbedded in our lives, that we cannot see a path to change. Of course we have a surgeon, a perfect surgeon that can fix even this. But we need to ask Him to help, for he will not operate without our permission.

The changes will be costly. You will have to turn from all that has become who you are, to be something that God wants you to be. You will have consequences for your stubbornness, but there will be eternal life… THERE IS ALWAYS ETERNAL LIFE FOR THOSE THAT REALLY SEEK IT.

Sin is like cancer in our lives. I hope that you would seek help if you became aware of a problem in your body and if the doctor told you that you needed surgery, you would get it right away. Doesn’t that seem reasonable? Then why, I might ask, can you not ask for the help you need to remove the sin from your life? What is holding you back? Can you not see what this sickness is doing to you?

One thing about cancer though, it is important to get it all when removing it. A single cell can cause the cancer to return – sometimes more vigorously than before. Sin is no different. If you deal with only part of the problem, then rest assured it will be back again – possibly with devastating consequences. You need to remove all of it!

The example I have given here is only that – an example. Sin takes root in our lives in many ways and just as there is not a single type of cancer, there are many different sins that plague us. Give yourself a spiritual examination and ask if there is the tumor of sin in your life. The more honest you are, the better your chance at catching it early and dealing with it while the consequences are small. If it has gone beyond that point then the time to deal with it is now. Don’t wait until a death sentence is handed out. A loving God wants nothing more than to heal you. You simply need to make an appointment.

The Great Physician is just a prayer away. If you are thinking about sinning, drop to your knees and PRAY! If you are flirting with sin, drop to your knees and ask for forgiveness right now. If you are actively in sin, STOP! Ask for forgiveness and be prepared to do whatever you have to to make it right.

Sin however has another stage. It is Stage V and it is always lethal. Once you have passed from this world there is NO CURE. God has warned us that not to accept the free gift of salvation is to be eternally separated from Him and there is no second chance. So, if you have not accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and savior, then do it now.
Go to this page to see how.

And for the rest of you brothers and sisters in Christ. Treat your sins early and often and you will enjoy spiritual health.

Blessings upon Blessings

Tim

Like most of you, I have watched the tumbling economy over the last several weeks and the disaster-proportion coverage of CNN. I see over and over again that the American people feel that there is no one left to trust. Our banks are failing. The stock market is in free fall. Globally, the world reacts with fear, and all the time our leaders fiddle while they throw our money at a burning house.

I hear our leaders speak of blame. They blame bad debt, risky loans, this person and that program. They tell us that with a little more money and a little more time they will fix our problems and once more bring peace and tranquility to our lives. With all due respect, this is poppycock! Are we blind as well as deaf? Are our world leaders only able to focus on one crisis at a time to the exclusion of everything else? Can they not see there are greater forces at work here?

Let me recap briefly the last couple of years for you. We have unprecedented climate change ravaging the globe and the environment from pole to pole. Entire ecosystems are on the verge of collapse and if you don’t believe that, check with a salmon fisherman off the California coast or a diver on the Great Barrier reef in Australia. Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, and a host of other countries are on the verge of beginning new global aggressions that threaten us all. Human tragedies in areas such as Darfur and Rwanda are almost beyond our comprehension. Greed and human depravity are rising like flames unabated across a dry field. Yet our leadership has decided our answers lie with just a little more capital.

Are you starting to feel like me? Who can you trust? Where is the answer? How can I save a life on the edge and a world on the brink?

The only way we are going to change a thing is if we fundamentally change the way that people think about their lives and their responsibilities of others. All other solutions are destined for failure. Think about this for a moment. We have thrown trillions of dollars at poverty and yet it persists. We have thrown tanks and bombs at those who would threaten our freedom and yet they come. We counted on our finest thinkers of this age to solve our environmental crisis and they don’t even fully understand the problem let alone a solution. We have put our faith in a government that proposes we “live and let live” and our families collapse. Where are the answers we seek?

The Bible tells us that “the heart of man deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” – Jer 17:9 (KJV). So, what are we to do? I have learned that you don’t solve a problem by attacking the systems but rather the root cause. The root of this matter is plain. It all comes back to one thing, one reason… us! It is our fundamentally depraved nature that has pulled us to the brink of this abyss. Our greed, our desire for power, wealth, notoriety etc etc. has been the virus in this global sickness.

So, can we trust our leadership to get us out of this mess? Can we trust the thinkers of this age who saw these things coming and yet were impotent to stop them? Can you trust those around you who are all just as sick as this world right now? Obviously not.

If the virus of this illness that is pulling our world apart is truly our sin, then there is only one cure. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life because you and I cannot. He sacrificed Himself willingly to clean us of the virus of sin in our lives. He can and will change your life for the better. Have you learned yet that the world does not have the answers? Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the light.” Have you been looking for the light at the end of the tunnel? This world only offers you darkness and more of the same failed answers because our infection remains.

If you have not done so, now is the time to reach out to Christ. He can restore what the locusts have eaten in your life. He will change you in a way that will change your world and this is the only real answer to our problems. Realize that the world has no solution for you. Only God can fix what is wrong with us.

What are you waiting for? What promise does this world hold for you that is better than what God is offering? How long will you suffer in silence? How long will you remain as sick as this world? The healer waits for you with open arms. Jesus said that whoever would call on Him, He would in no way turn aside. Surrender to the Spirit. Get down on your knees and admit that you’re a sinner in need of a savior and ask Him to come into your life. Ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour and He will do a mighty work.

And if you are a Christian today and realize that you have been walking outside of the will of Christ, today is the day to make things right. Recommit to Him, return to the fellowship and find healing.

Finally, as we come to understand that we are the problem, we come one step closer to fixing it. God is reaching out to you today. Are you listening? Who can you trust?

In His grace and love,

Tim

If I can pray for you or answer questions for you as you consider salvation, please email me at: TimDavies@ripplesministry.org