Do YOU have Cancer?

I have always said that the Bible touches on every problem known to mankind. This morning I was reduced to humble adoration at the intense truth of that statement. I felt so touched by the Lord, I held my Bible up to my face and wept.

I accidentally left a huge tear mark on that page. I will dated the margin and will rejoice for years to come.

This morning I was astounded to find the word "cancer" in the NKJV Bible.

2 Timothy 2:16-17, "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. "

After years of reading  "cankor" in the KJV, I switched to NKJV and discovered the word  is translated "cancer."

The Online Bible gives the definition of the Greek word gaggraina  as "a gangrene, a disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, unless a remedy be seasonably applied, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts, and at last eats away the bones."

Yep, sounds like cancer to me.

But the Lord uses the physical is to remind us of the spiritual. We're that kind of people. We just can't take the Lord's words for it, we have to see it to believe it.  We need something physical we understand to teach us something spiritual we don't understand.

How many of us would have said, as Thomas, "I won't believe until I reach my hands into His side?"

So, the Lord  uses physical illustrations to speak to our hearts.

My mind is kinda' on cancer these days.

So when the Lord used this disease to illustrate putrid growth of doctrine that was irreverent, evil and useless,  I took note.

Why should we be more concerned about doctrinal error than cancer? Today's mantra, "doctrine divides"  causes people  to set aside doctrine for the sake of unity.

But, the Lord is going to divide sheep from the goats, wheat from the tares. Doctrine does divide.  It divides darkness from light, truth from lies, and false teachers from true prophets.

Doctrine is crucial to teach us who Jesus is, what He did and what is coming. We must know what is Biblically correct, so we don't allow the spiritual cancer to overtake our minds, our families, our churches.

Cancer can  destroy only the body, but we get a new one at the resurrection from the dead if we are saved by the blood of Jesus.

Corrupt doctrine can destroy the soul, and there will not be another chance after death.

We're rightly terrified of the "C" word,  but it is a great reminder of the true cankor on earth, people NOT knowing the true doctrine about Jesus Christ and His saving grace.

I've been blessed to hear the amount of people praying for my healing from cancer.

But, today, I was impressed with a greater need - the healing of the Church's spiritual cancer, the profane and idle babblings that lead to more ungodliness.  Before the Church can be healed, individuals need to be healed.

We need the Great Physician to diagnose us with His Holy Word, and if we have spiritual cancer, it needs to be removed with the sword of the Word -  it's sharper than a scalpel.

MM Meditation - Light Affliction?

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction,

which is but for a moment,
works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory

Sometimes, when we are going through trials, it is hard to take encouragement from someone who's life seems so easy and so void of trials. The Apostle Paul understands suffering.

Trials - Paul referred to his trials as "light affliction."

The Apostle Paul lists his light afflictions in chapter 11. A few mentioned include:

-stripes (39 lashes with a scourge)

-beaten with rods

-stoned

-shipwrecked

-robbed

-cold and naked

Have you ever imagined what it would feel like to be scourged with straps of leather braided together with shards of pottery and stone? Have you ever suffered hunger to the point where it affected your well-being? Have you ever been beaten with a rod?

Paul could endure because the Lord Jesus did.

Hebrews 4:15 "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Time- Paul referred to the time of his suffering as "a moment"?

At times his imprisonments lasted years. How long do you think it took to heal from receiving 39 stripes - five times? How long do you think it took to recover after he was stoned? How long do you think it took to recover from starvation? His beating with rods? How long?

How could he say a moment? Because Paul was spiritually minded enough to compare his time on earth to eternity in Heaven. It is but a moment. In the blink of an eye, the lap of a wave, the extinguishing of a candle, life on earth will be over and we will be facing eternal life or eternal death.

Triumph - Paul understood all these things were working in his life to bring "glory".

Trials are a very real part of life. We all have them. But, when we look at the lives of Paul and of the Lord Jesus Christ, ours can suddenly seem so small. The emphasis is not to think are trials are irrelevant because they aren't the same magnitude; the emphasis is to have the same mindset as Paul. Can we lay before the Lord all that troubles our hearts, stumbles our thoughts and hinders our prayers and have that mindset - these are light afflictions and are but for a moment?

The beautiful part is that the Lord knows our heartaches.

He longs to heal our heartaches.

He longs to wipe away our final tears and hold us in His Everlasting arms for all of eternity.

If we ever cry out in agony of soul, wondering when our suffering will end, do you think the Father will tell us the same thing we always tell our impatient children?

"Just another minute...

we're almost Home...

...just another minute...