The Perfect Description Of Sin

I'm bringing up a word no one wants their doctor to say to them ... cancer.  Is there another word that brings as much fear and dread as this word does?

Let me say in simple terms ... cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells growing in the body, which then produces a malignant growth or tumor resulting from that division and wild growth of those cells.  Cancer is perceived to be evil or destructive and has proven it's hard to contain or eradicate.

Cancer is also ... the perfect description of sin. 

Sin isn't just perceived to be evil and destructive ... it is evil and destructive.  Ever since the first man sinned, like cancer it has been hard to contain and still needs to be eradicated from the earth.  But that won't happen until Jesus returns.

What causes sin?  There is some inclination of the mind, some natural tendency or propensity, (a disposition to behave in a certain way) something naturally born in our flesh, passed down from the first Adam ... which places our soul under the influence of a strong inherent inclination to yield to one or more personal temptations. 

Your propensity or inherent inclination to satisfy certain desires of the mind or the flesh may be different than mine was and sometimes still is.

Sin, just like cancer, is usually the result of some type of uncontrolled desire in our mind or physical body.  They are sometimes called fleshly appetites.  Because we are born with a sinful nature, it is normal for the fallen, un-regenerated natural man to act on that propensity to sin.   

If sin is allowed to operate unchecked, man's spiritual soul will suffer a type of  malignant growth that can corrupt the soul with evil, just like the physical effect cancer has on the body.  Just as cancer destroys the flesh, sin destroys man's will and soul.

Man has been given by God, the power of freedom, the power of choice, and he enjoys himself so thoroughly in that freedom, that he does not perceive or understand that he is in bondage to the sin and/or the objects of his affection. 

So, many times when God comes to deliver him from these things, he protests against his own liberation from them, not understanding that the sin ... is the result ... of the liberty and freedom that God allows man to operate in.  Man is responsible for what is done in that freedom, but he protests against God for what was done in that freedom.  We blame God for making us like we are. 

"God, why have you given us freedom to sin, and then judge us for that sin."

God looks at our sin as a cancer.  It must be removed if we are to live.  So He extracts whatever the object of our sin is, like a surgeon removing a cancer that would bring death if left alone.  But God removes something which had become part of our life, like a part of the body itself.  Sin can be deeply rooted in us.
 
Removing sin can be painful.  God has different ways to do that, depending upon what kind of sin God must remove.  I find that God usually uses ... "the Word of God" ... like the sword of the Spirit spoken of in Hebrews 4:12 to do His surgery upon our soul and spirit because it cuts to the heart.  The Spirit goes right to the heart of the problem.  

The freedom to sin ... is nothing when compared to the freedom from sin we receive when God operates on our heart and removes the spiritual cancer within our lives. 

When you allow God to invade your life with His soul changing Holy Spirit, you are no longer in bondage to act on the propensity to sin.

2nd Corinthians 5:17 ... "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Oh, you will still occasionally sin, but you won't be forced too ... and when you do ... if you are anything like me, the Lord will gently say something like, "Why did you do that again?  You could have talked it over with me."  I'm sorry Lord, I thought I could handle it on my own.

Some things are too big for us.  When they are, say ... "Lord, you're gonna half to handle this one for me."  (I know it's bad English, but God will still understand.)  
 
Sin is a cancer that will destroy your life.  It will grow without your knowledge just as a cancer inside of you does.  One sin, like one cancer cell is one too many to have in your body or soul.

Stay cancer free.