Saturday, March 04, 2006

The plain truth

Then the disciples came to Him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" (Matthew 15:12)

Some people claim that the reason they don’t like church is that all the preacher talks about is sin, sin, and more sin. This isn’t surprising; no one likes to be criticized. We don’t like it when the boss gives us low marks on a performance appraisal; we don’t like it when we get a bad grade in school; we don’t like it when a friend disagrees with our opinion.

But when it comes to matters of life and death, we don’t want to be buttered up. Suppose that you went to the doctor because you were running a 105-degree fever, and he tried to make you forget about the problem by telling you that your red cheeks enhanced your natural good looks. You’d undoubtedly get mad and say, "I’m paying you to cure me, not flatter me." When you are sick you need an accurate diagnosis, even if it is unpleasant to listen to; otherwise there is no hope for effective treatment.

You and I are both ill with a terminal disease. Like every other human being, we are infested with a cancer that has a 100% kill rate—God calls this cancer "sin." The symptoms of this disease are many; they include an unwillingness to admit that you have made mistakes, a tendency to hold grudges, hatred for people who aren’t like you or don’t agree with you, unwillingness to commit yourself to anyone or anything, reluctance to open yourself up to others, and an insistence that you always be in control of everything. The effect of this disease is isolation from others and eventual death—death not only of the body, but the horror of spending eternity dying in hell, unloved and alone.

Is there a cure for this disease? Absolutely! Jesus, the Son of God, has been called the Great Physician because He correctly diagnoses our condition and prescribes the only effective treatment for sin—His forgiveness. Jesus has set up clinics all around you—they are called His churches. And if you cannot get to one of His clinics, He has many nurses, called preachers, who are ready to make house calls. But although our Lord and His nurses have pleasant bedside manners, do not expect flattery—to treat the infection of your sins, they will speak candidly with you about those sins, so that you might have the medicine of Jesus’ forgiveness that results in everlasting life in heaven.

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