Skip to main content

 Leprosy

Leprosy is a disease of the nerves. Nerves die and there is no feeling of pain. A person can step off a curb and break their ankle and not know it until the foot becomes gangrenous. One can lean on a furnace without ever knowing it was hot and end up with a limb-threatening burn.


Sin is like leprosy. It destroys any sensitivity one's conscience might still have, till things that might have shocked someone over 50 years ago have become so pervasive in culture today that no one even identifies these things as being life threateningly wrong.

St. Paul writes to a group of Jesus Christ followers about the leprous effect of sin on human life in the first century AD.

Romans 1:28-32
"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God as God, God gave them up to the debased mind they had chosen to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."

God has made a way, by His own power and might, for humanity to have its heart renewed; to feel again and know first-hand that which will make for life and that which will never make for life as we are meant to know it. St. Pail writes to the Romans about God solution to our spiritual leprosy.

Romans 5:6-10
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His resurrection life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

What the world offers as "satisfying experience and stuff" is destroying your ability to feel the spiritual realities of life you were created for: a relationship with God where He is Life within you. Let Jesus Christ heal you of your spiritual leprosy. He still heals lepers and sets captives free. He loves you.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 James 1:5-8 " If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.   But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.   Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.   Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do." We must remember that God is never upset that we don't know or understand how to live out the New Life He has given to us. That Life is now being lived out in us by the Holy Spirit. This Life of the Kingdom is radically different that the life we are accustomed to living in concert with the world. One of the main marks of a true follower of Jesus Christ is that there is change and ongoing change in us by the Holy Spirit. We do not remain as we once were. The Holy Spirit is conforming us to the Image o...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...
Post a Comment
Read more
 WORRY AND PRIDE Tim Keller said that it takes pride to worry. If we have made a mental or emotional determination about how our lives should run, what should happen and how things will play out and then things do not go as planned, we get upset. We decide what life should look like, trusting our own perspective and understanding, our own pride. We become worried due to the fact that our calculations have not proved to be accurate. Now what!? King Solomon, the world's wisest man stated, "Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart and don't rely or lean on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge that Him ( that He is the Lord of life, that He is in control and will lead those who believe, trust and rely on Him for all of life's details) and He will direct your path." Humility says, "Well, that's not what I expected, but then I don't see as God sees. I believe He has my life in hand, and He is directing things even if I can't understand them...
Post a Comment
Read more