Human Fragility
Why are people so fragile? For the last few weeks I have dealt with injuries and illnesses across my family. My youngest daughter got sick, passed it to her sister and she gave it to me. It was nasty, with a cough and fever. My wife missed a couple days from work -- one so I could rest, the next for herself.
But that is not all. The next week my father went in for a simple, routine heart procedure. He had a stent installed. Not a big deal, I didn't even go to Corpus for it. But then my Mom called and Dad was running a fever so they wouldn't let him out of the hospital. I went to Corpus on Friday night and left Monday morning. Sunday while I was there, my Mom came down with the flu. She slept the day away and loaded up on vitamins and was feeling better by Tuesday when my Dad was discharged from the hospital.
Oh no, that is not all! This Thursday, my wife went in for knee surgery. Another simple, routine procedure which went quite well. The next day we drove her 75 miles away for a ladies' retreat. We went early and toured the Blue Bell Ice Cream Plant. You get a free sample at the end of the tour! YUM! The best ice cream on the planet!
So, I have dealt with fragile humans quite a bit lately. Why are people so fragile?
I hate to say that we deserve it, but God says we do. Go all the way back to the beginning. In Genesis 3, the only two people on the Earth decided they would rather listen to temptation than God. God said, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."1
Needless to say, Adam and Eve did not die when they ate that fruit, but I believe the plan was to allow them to live forever in the Garden. When they chose to disobey, they were then no longer allowed to live forever and were banished from the Garden. Death had come. God killed an animal to clothe them. Adam and Eve had two sons, one of which was a shepherd. When it came time to make sacrifices to God, Abel had to kill his best sheep. We all know what happened to he and his brother.
Death has come. What happens now? Well, God also promised that the woman's offspring would crush the head of the tempter. In fact, all Jewish scripture (called the Old Testament in Christian circles) points to the coming of this man who will defeat the tempter, Satan. He is known as 'The Messiah' or, in Greek, 'The Christ'. What does that mean to you and I?
Jesus Christ was the offspring of the woman. Jesus Christ was God's promised deliverer from sin and death. What are the wages of sin? A well-known passage, Romans 6:23, says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."2
Sin equals death. When we choose to ignore what God has commanded, we sin. When we sin, we are condemned to die. Who among us has not sinned? I won't go into detail here, but I don't think any one writing or reading this material can say you have not sinned. Sin is a part of us since The Fall. Temptation comes along, and we must resist it.
Sometimes we are tempted to something we find revolting and we can resist that temptation on our own. Other times, however, the temptation is not revolting. It may even be fun. This temptation may be something that violates God's law. Then, only by the intervention of the Holy Spirit can we avoid this temptation. I know it happens to me several times a day. Often, I fail. Only through prayer can I resist the temptation.
Am I any better than someone that succumbs to temptation all the time? No. One sin equals death. I died when I stole a Hot Wheels car from a neighbor kid that I believed stole one from me. That was sin. That was probably not my first sin, but it's the earliest thing I can remember. It was quickly followed by lying, "He gave it to me!" I don't remember if I was caught, but it doesn't matter. I sinned. I was as good as dead.
Christ died to remove our sin. He died so that we might live. See Romans 3:9-30 for details. Christ crushed the head of the serpent.
God has also promised us a new imperishable body after this life is over. "No one in Zion will say, 'I'm sick.'"3 "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law."4 (Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 here)
In a nutshell, we who are in Christ will pass into God's arms with a body that will never be harmed. We will be immortal beings clothed in a body that will never become sick. "Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."5
If you have a bible handy and want to know God's plan for our salvation, read Romans. It presents the reason for Christ's death and resurrection to us in plain language that everyone can understand. You don't have to be a theology major to understand it, I promise. If you do have any questions, however, feel free to contact me.
posted by ClayMan at 1:30 PM
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