Sick of Sin

This past week- I was sick. Not the sniffle, I need a tissue, I have a headache sick- the I have to visit the bathroom every hour, there’s a path between my bedroom and the toilet, I cannot even go downstairs sick. The I wish my mommy would come home and take care of me even thought I’m 27 sick. The please take this pain away dear Jesus sick. So I might be exaggerating just a little, but it was no fun. I remember thinking one day a few months ago that getting sick wouldn’t be too bad so I could stay home and just rest- well that was a dumb thought because Tuesday and Wednesday I would have rather been teaching nine different classes of crazy kids then the state I was in. It’s not much fun to revisit those feelings of last week, but as I sit here thinking about the message this morning on sin I think the analogy, while crude, can be used to compare how God views sin.

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we are a people prone to sin. Sin entered the world with that first original sin, and today we still see the affect of sin in our world. God hates sin. In reading Numbers this week, I was reminded of how God continued to poor out his righteous wrath on the Israelites as they turned from him towards sin.

So back to me in bed. Every hour I had to get up to go to the bathroom. It was not fun. Not pleasant. When my mom came home she gave me medicine and then told me to eat something. How ridiculous was that! The contents of my stomach have been coming up all day, and she wanted me to eat something. What a gross, disgusting, horrible idea! The idea of putting a morsel of food in my mouth was the most repulsive thing I could think of.

Sin should be that gross to us. If we love God, if we are passionately pursuing Him, if we desire nothing but to fall more in love with His mercy, His righteousness, His justice- then we should want to only put things in our bodies that are good and nourishing and that lead us to right relationship with Him.

Why doesn’t it work that way? Why don’t we automatically throw up things that are not of Him? Why do I let myself be filled, or even seek out, things that will not fill me and instead be things that separate me from the life-giving nourishment only He can supply?

What was the cure to my stomach flu? Some time in bed, a little medicine, and eventually, chicken noodle soup. I think God provides us with the things we need to avoid our own spiritual flu. The cure to the spiritual flu- Christ. Continuing everyday, being intentional and deliberate, and consciously pursuing the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He is the only cure.