Down with the sickness

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Lk 5:31-32 NIV

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how when we are sick, our sickness permeates into everything about us?  I am not talking about when we have a little head cold, I am talking about when we are SICK.  All of our thoughts and actions revolve around the fact that we are sick.  We think of what medicine we need.  We think of what we can eat.  We think of what we cannot eat.  We think about who can and cannot be around us. We think about what to do to contain the sickness and keep it from spreading.  We sometimes feel like we are going to die, and at times relish that thought so we will no longer be sick! We can't do the things we normally would. Can't even do a lot of the things that we want to do.  And some things we normally want to do, we don't even think about doing.  When we are sick, it alters, for a time, everything about us.  All we care about is, "What must I do to get better?"

As I was laying around the house early last week, sick, I thought about all of this and how my sickness kept me from being me, at least to an extent.  And then I thought about Jesus talking about how sick people need doctors, not healthy ones, and how he did not come for the righteous, but for sinners.  I got to thinking about how Jesus compares our broken state, our sin, to a sickness.  And it made me ask this question... "What if I lived as if my sin where a sickness?"

How different would I live if my constant thought was, "What must I do to get better?" in relation to my sin?  True, my sin is paid for and I am forgiven, redeemed, and made whole because Jesus took care of it all for me 2,000 years ago.  And that helps me to understand what Paul is talking about when he mentions in Romans should we go on sinning? BY NO MEANS.  So what do I do to keep from sinning?  Maybe if I see my sin for what it is, a sickness, I can overcome it.  Because if I live as if my sin is a sickness, I will always be thinking about what to do to contain it and keep it from spreading.

Sin has a tendency to do that, to spread.  God is keenly aware of this, which is why scripture compares sin to yeast.  It only takes a little for it to spread all throughout an entire batch of dough.  So we need to isolate our sin and keep it from spreading.  If we don't, it will consume us.

So if I look at my sin as a sickness, then I will constantly be thinking of what I need to make me better.  What medicine do I need to take?  And the medicine I need is Jesus.  He didn't just pay for my sins 2,000 years ago, but He is alive today and His Spirit is inside me!  I can do all things through Him, even overcome my sin.  See, the more I think about Him, the more I set my mind on Him and the things of Him, the more I will seek Him.  I will talk with Him more.  I will walk with Him more.  I will love Him more.  I know I could always stand a little more of Him in my life.

I want to overcome the sin in my life.  I want to live a life set aside for Him.  I want to love and honor Him in all I do because He is worthy.  I want Him to permeate into everything about me.  So maybe it is time that I get down with the sickness, so that I can set my mind more on Him.

Inaugural Address

So it seems the whole world is blogging these days, and I don't want to miss any oppurtunity to make Christ known.  I have been using Twitter for a spell now, and while it is a great vessel for a brief statement or profession of faith, blogging will allow for more meaningful thoughts with greater depth. Sometimes I am quite sure that I will get a little zany, as anyone that knows me knows I am prone to be.  I don't know if I will ever declare any bold revelations, but it does give me the oppurtunity to express my thoughts on truth.

As a disclaimer, let me just say again, these are my thoughts on truth. All truth is found in God's word. This blog is merely my thoughts on His truths as I understand them.  I imagine at times I will write about my family, life, my ministries, or even football, but I would suggest the vast majority of my writings will be about Jesus. Because it is, has always been, and will always be about Jesus. And if you have been around me, then you know you can't be around me for long (usually a few minutes) without me talking about Him.

So given that I am writing tonight from my phone, which is not exactly my favorite thing, I am going to end for now with this... Get ready, because we are going for a ride.

Be blessed!
Derek