PreachingHelp.org Some of you may know that I’ve been traveling back and forth to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, since I was diagnosed with cancer last August.
If you are not aware, MD Anderson is the number one cancer hospital in the United States. It has over 1.6 million patients and a staff of over 21,000 people strong. It’s not like any local hospital you’ve ever been to; it’s more like a city.
Because of Covid, no family members are allowed to enter the hospital. That means that the only non-staff people in the building are cancer patients. Over the months, I have discovered that the most difficult thing I have had to deal with are the waiting rooms. I’ve spent many hours in waiting rooms awaiting tests, blood work, and doctor’s appointments. But what makes these waiting rooms so difficult is not the waiting but the people with whom I wait. While I sit for hours, alone with my thoughts, I see people all around me whose bodies have been ravaged by cancer. It’s been one of the most disheartening and discouraging things I’ve endured since my diagnosis. I have sat and thought to myself, “What am I doing here with all these people? I’m not like them.” But the stark reality is, “I’m here because I am just like all these people around me. We all have the same problem, we’re just not all in the same stage.”
While sitting in those waiting rooms, I came to the realization that we look at sin the same way we do cancer. When we look around, we can see some really terrible sinners, many of whom are steeped in sin and whose redemption seems hopeless. But what I hope we come to realize is that we’re no different from them. While the degree to which sin has infected our lives may differ, the reality is we have all been infected with sin.
However, thank God there’s a cure for sin! If you could just see through my eyes and see what I have seen, you’d come to hate cancer. And likewise, if we could see through God’s eyes and see what he has seen, we’d come to hate sin and seek its cure that that is offered in God’s Son, Jesus.
Thank you Brother…The leprosy of sin can be defeated through the precious blood of our Savior,so we can indeed be ‘whiter than the snow’…continuing in prayers for you and yours…praying that you will keep on, keeping on as the Master deems fit for His service….God bless is our prayer in Jesus name, amen…
We should look at sin the same way we look at cancer, but we often don’t see it that way because we shut it out of our minds.
You are always the teacher, the preacher, a child of God. You have taught me that every life experience is a lesson if we are open to seeing the world through the lens of God’s Word and His promises. Thank you, brother Steve. JB
Thank you Steve for your parallel lesson. I will try looking at those brothers and sister that I am struggling to FORGIVE as patients who are sick and possibly dying without a promise of Heaven in need of sincere redemption that only Christ can offer.
Hello to Kim. Prayers for you both. See you in Heaven someday.
Thank you for the lesson/comparison!! We see cancer but don’t compare it to sin!! I continue you/Kim in my prayers. Trust that God still has some work for you like this lesson! Thank you again for it!!! Continue giving us the benefit of your thoughts/insights!! Love, Duane