“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5
There are sicknesses and then there are sicknesses. Doctors were recently asked their opinion of the most terrifying, horrifying sicknesses in history. These were their top three. The first is what is called the “Black Death,” or now known as the “Plague.” It happened 700 years ago and was caused by a single bacteria carried through the air by rats and fleas. It caused the death of 75 million people – 60% of the population of Europe. The second disease they listed was Smallpox. Between 1880 and 1980, it killed about 500 million people until it became the first disease ever to be eradicated from earth. The last disease is HIV/AIDS. Globally, 75 million people are now infected with this disease and 36 million people have died. Though there are drugs to manage it, as of now, there is no cure for this disease.
As horrifying as these diseases are, there is one sickness that is worse than all of them put together. This sickness is called sin. There is no sickness that can compare to sin sickness in the life of a true follower of Jesus. It is so debilitating, depressing, disabling, and demoralizing in the life of someone who should be delivered from sin. Now understand, I am not referring to sin that has been confessed, but rather sin that is concealed. Sin that is kept in the dark in the life of a believer is absolutely devastating.
You see, when you give your life to Jesus Christ and God’s Holy Spirit enters into you it does not make you suddenly immune to sin. It does, however, make you more aware of and sensitive to sin. The mark of a healthy body is one that wants to fight infection and get rid of infection as soon as it detects it. In the same way, a healthy believer is someone whose spirit wants to get rid of sin as soon as it experiences sin. One of the marks that you are healthy in your walk with God is in how much you hate sin and how sensitive you are to sin.
In Psalm 51:5, King David recognized the origin of His own sin sickness after he had been caught concealing his sin of adultery. When we are born, we all carry the sin gene within us. Each of us is born sin-sick. No doctor, surgery, therapy, or medication can cure this sickness. Only God can.
Dear Father, thank you so much for the cure for my sin sickness that is found in Jesus. I pray that you would help me to continue to pursue a healthy life in all areas - physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually - because my soul has been healed by you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Topics: Sin
