Free Translation - Side Effects (Part 2) - A Famous Sinner

Iron infusion to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia.
I'm also eating spinach and orange-carrot juice.

The consent form for my chemotherapy treatment doesn’t start with the side effects. The first thing is the diagnosis and the treatment. If we talk about the "gospel side effects" we must begin specifying the "disease" and "treatment".

A kid in the Sunday Bible class of my daughter told another kid that Julietta’s mother was a "famous sinner" meaning that she was a “famous singer”. When I was told I thought, "I hope not to be a famous one, but sinner I am."

Romans 3:23 (NIV) says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". We all have received a consent form saying that our disease is called sin, the prognosis is death and that treatment is Jesus. The problem is that deep down we don’t believe that we are that sick.

In recent weeks my daughter was studying about natural disasters. She asked us why God allowed natural disasters. We explained that God created everything perfect but due to the sin of Adam and Eve nature was affected. We added that our hope is that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Then she said : "Thank you Adam and Eve ... thanks guys for ruining everything." I said, "Don’t be so hard, you and I would have done exactly the same in Eve’s place. In fact, whenever you disobey us you are doing just like Eve” (she didn’t like that).  But I must confess that I didn’t like the thought either. I don’t know Adam and Eve’s awareness of God's love, but I have no excuse. I already know that “… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." Christ is the most powerful, convincing and extreme display of God's love. But so often our way of life says that this gift was not a big deal. Many times our attitudes indicate that deep down we think that we deserved some of that love.

It happens whenever we don’t live a life of gratitude and contentment; whenever we don’t do what the Bible says; whenever we are not willing to forgive; whenever we don’t choose the right thing because we don’t want to sacrifice our comfort or "happiness”; or whenever we are reluctant to render ourselves unto God. We don’t do these things to win God’s favor because his mercy and grace are not based on our merits or performance. But the measure of our joy, obedience, willingness to forgive, decisions and beliefs will be proportional to our acknowledgment of what Christ did for us.

Christ is the "big deal" and NONE of us deserved that love. Nothing in us was worthy. Our situation was very serious. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) says:  "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us ". There is no cure until we come to terms with the disease.

If Christ dwells in our hearts sin no longer reigns in us. But sin never gives up. It always tries to sabotage our Christian life. Every day we must return to the Cross. Every day we must conclude that we did not deserve such love. That will change the perspective of our lives and how we relate to God and others.

Instead of obsessed with the "famous" we will be broken and contrite with the "sinner" part. Rather than resentful with the cancer (or any other situation) we will be grateful for the undeserved love of God. So my biggest problem is not cancer. My biggest problem was already diagnosed and resolved in a "consent form" signed with the blood of Christ on the Cross.


All rights reserved. Rebecca Parrilla. June/2015.