Monday, February 4, 2019
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My wife and I had gone to a friend's house by the New Jersey Shore to start writing a book. For breaks, I wanted to go for walks on the beach, but Karen said she was feeling so fatigued she couldn't find the energy. As we returned home, that fatigue got worse. Then came the severe stomach upset and finally the fever that climbed to 105 degrees. We had no idea that one of mankind's most virulent diseases was taking over in Karen's body. It turned out she had hepatitis. We knew she had some terrible symptoms. We sure didn't know what was causing them, and what ultimately almost cost Karen her life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Something's Wrong."
Thankfully, Karen got to the doctor, got treatment, and made a full recovery over time. But we had no idea the medical monster that was behind her suffering. We could see the symptoms. We knew something was wrong - very wrong, but we didn't know the disease that was causing it all.
Increasingly, a lot of us watch the news and we think something like this, "Man, something's wrong. Something's very wrong!" We hear about violent murders and shootings in all kinds of locations these days; people doing things to other people that are unspeakable, families ripped apart, a lot of garbage. It just feels like something's wrong in our world. But even closer to home, you know, with the people we love most - sometimes it feels like something's wrong in our family, in our friends.
In fact, we look at how we act ourselves all too often and we think, "Something's wrong in me." The anger, the selfishness, the unfaithfulness, those cutting words, the depression, the hurting - terrible symptoms of something very wrong inside each of us. If we can face the disease that causes so much of this darkness, we can start to fix what's wrong.
Our seemingly incurable spiritual disease can be traced all the way back to the first family, the first man and woman. Our word for today from the Word of God, from Genesis 2:16. It describes that scene in the Garden of Eden when God tells Adam, "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." Now, nothing was wrong until Adam and Eve decided to go against God and do it their way.
You know what? We're all Adam and Eve. We've all made the same choice about who will run our life. And that's what God calls sin. For which God says there is an eternal death penalty. The greatest problem of all in your life is that you're away from your Creator.
The "something's wrong" is sin, and it twists everything. It twists your sense of worth, the relationship between a man and a woman, between a parent and a child. It twists the way we treat others. It causes addictions and it causes the darkness inside of us we can't shake. Religion and spirituality, well they're nice, but they can't cure this terminal disease or the symptoms that are poisoning our life and our relationships. Our only hope of curing what's wrong is the same as it was for Adam and Eve; the Bible says God came looking for them to bring them back to Him.
God came looking for you when Jesus died for your sin on the cross. And He's come looking for you today, right where you are. Jesus becomes the Savior from your sin, the Healer of its awful symptoms when you commit yourself to Him. And as your spiritual fever is climbing, the symptoms become more damaging. It's becoming critical that you let the healing begin now.
You want to begin this relationship with Jesus and be forgiven of every wrong thing you've ever done, erased from God's Book forever, have the wall gone between you and Him and finally a new you possible? Well, then, tell Him today, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sin and I'm yours beginning today." Check out our website, because it's all set up to help you be sure you belong to Him and show you how you can begin that relationship. It's ANewStory.com. Go there as soon as you can.
Until your deadly disease of sin is treated by Jesus, the "something wrong" is going to continue to darken and threaten your life. But Jesus bought your cure with His life. And He's ready today to heal what no one else has, and what no one else can.