Die to Live

A film franchise whose central character is a suave secret agent is soon to release another installment. No doubt this film will be filled with pulse pounding car chases and super stunts that dare to imply the Bond character lives forever. Movies may ‘imitate art’ but they are not real life, certainly not the life God intended for us to have before sin came in. Oh yes, sin again needs to be addressed because it stands stubbornly in the way of a stable relationship with Jesus. We like to drag sin around with us sometimes like an old sack of potatoes. We just won’t put it down, perhaps for fear of being unrecognizable without the extra weight. Argh!

How much better it would be to obey the Lord and die to sin. Take Lot’s wife. How much better it would have been for her to press on to the better country prepared for her than to long for the likes of sinful Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19 retells this historic event. Verse 17 reads that the angels of the Lord warned Lot and his family not to look back when fleeing the city. His wife didn’t listen and it cost her life. Contrast her foolishness with the wisdom of the Apostle Paul. He said things like…

·  I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.  (1 Corinthians 15:3142-44) 

·         I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.(Galatians 2:20)

·         Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:11) 

All sinners saved by Christ are called to put off the old man and put on the new. Cancer shouldn’t have the market cornered on waking up to the truth that real life is hid with Christ. In fact, cancer should make it easier to help shed the old man as the disease certainly does do much to alter one’s body image. Think as you honestly look at your body; are you really able to stop the aging process? Bodies function magnificently even in their corrupted, sin-stained state, but they must die in order for us to inherit and inhabit the body Christ has prepared for us and that body will never wear out. (Revelation 21) Let the old man go. Die to self to live in Christ.

For more posts from Comfort in Christ Cancer Support go to http://comfortinchristcancersupport.blogspot.com/

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Help Me Please!!

Catch phrases like rugged individualism and self-reliance seem inherent in just about every human being. Dire, unique battles of the flesh or spirit can’t be fought alone and frankly Jesus Christ should be the commanding officer each step of the way. The following is a jam packed account of a family reaching out for help and receiving bountifully from God’s hand!

“Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. (Mark 9:17-27)

“The Great Physician” immediately gets to work and soon the boy was healed at the Word of God. Whether we are plagued with emotional malaise or physical limitations; God is ready, willing, and plenty able to help if we would just ask. Are we calling out to the Teacher, our Friend when times are tough; when we could use a hand? The Lord uses people to get His work done and they want to help us. But in many ways it’s so much easier to give than receive; is it not? Learning how to accept help from fellow believers has come a little easier through the gift of cancer. Every person in the body of Christ has a crucial function. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12  for further insights.

Over the panorama of our lives we may have been known at one time for great strength, but now we can be called ‘weaker members’ in need of our brothers and sisters to come along side and help hold us up. In years past I was quite accustomed to going it alone, proving I could do things myself. Today, I not only wonder how many blessings I missed out on, but how many blessings I denied by refusing to be helped. Ironically I now find myself in a situation that absolutely requires all assistance humanly available. Receiving gifts from others is akin to receiving right from the Lord Himself; a visit, a call, time to study God’s Word, a meal. What can someone do today to love on you, in the way that Jesus Christ loves you? Allow the Lord to bless you in your time of need and in return you will not only be blessed, but will also bless those the Lord has put in your life to serve you!

For more posts from Comfort in Christ Cancer Support go to http://comfortinchristcancersupport.blogspot.com/

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Fought the Good Fight

The man you see pictured here is a man of God, our former Calvary Chapel* Pastor, Ed Gaines. He went to be with the Lord September 28, 2012 after a 2 year battle with cancer. Since Ed’s body was compromised by kidney problems for 22 years, he needed extra strength from Jesus to fight this final fight with cancer. Over the span of his life and mine we weren't friends long, but our paths crossing was more than significant. About a year after my husband and I moved to Tucson from the Fairfield Ohio area (where Ed was pastor at Calvary Chapel Tri-State*), I found out I had cancer and so did Ed. As he prayed with me from far away over the phone I felt blessed to have this precious connection with him. We encouraged each other over the next two years. Ed told me reading my blog helped him press on and in turn the Lord continued prompting me to declare the need for all of us to stay focused on Jesus Christ.

Regardless of his health problems, Ed preached the Gospel week after week, every chance he had. Ed regaled us with tales of the dialysis nurses preparing for an earful of God’s truth whenever they saw him walk through the door for treatment. (That’s how I want to be!) When Ed was physically weak and unable to walk to the pulpit he insisted the elders assist and if need be carry him to a chair on the riser so he could still preach. (That’s how I want to be!) This man was all about getting God’s Word to God’s people and any issues he faced were secondary. Ed didn’t take the easy road on controversial topics either: he spoke boldly knowing the Lord could be trusted with the results. What an example he was to me! Are we only willing to put it all on the line when we’re staring at death? Ed was faithful, healthy or sick.

The Apostle Paul said “I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31) This exclamation was not born from  his suffering from cancer or some other life threatening condition, but rather the realization we all die. This is part of the curse of original sin. (Genesis 3) Paul also comprehended and believed (as he said to the Philippians’ church) “I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8). Paul was simply saying he willing to die because he knew his eternal destination. The same was true of Pastor Ed. He fought the good fight and now is wearing the crown. (2 Timothy 4:8) Perhaps with a golden Afro? J

Are you sure you will meet believers in Christ after you pass from the earth? Remember Jesus said “no one comes to the father except by Him” and that He alone paid the whole price for sin. If this is your belief you can be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.“ (Philippians 1:6) 

For more posts from Comfort in Christ Cancer Support go to http://comfortinchristcancersupport.blogspot.com/

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Detours

Unplanned stops on life’s journey can be greeted with perturbed annoyance or embraced with curiosity. Sudden changes in the charted course jolt the system. Wait! I have other plans; a career to accelerate – no time for unwanted news; especially bad news about a disease. We’re so apt to plan out the day, the year,and surely set some long term goals such as getting married in the prime of our youth, having biological children, and retiring early with money in the bank to cruise to exotic locales. Every person I have encountered with cancer including myself has felt a bit robbed of life's planned pursuits when the truth of cancer settles in.

For certain, cancer has carried me to places I never would have otherwise traveled. I pray to the Lord every day to use the circumstances I find myself in to shine brighter for Him than ever before. I pray those that know me will get the message that the life we live is not under our control and that our so-called plans are nothing more than steps to order our days. The nurses at the cancer center and I are on a first name basis now. Last week "Lisa" told me she was “inspired” after I held the IV pumping chemo into my body while explaining just a few things cancer has taught me, namely that my body is truly a rotting corpse while my spirit is being renewed day by day in the image of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:16) How real is that? The Bible teaches “A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

Another pit stop I make to manage cancer side effects are trips to the Physical Therapist, ‘Rick”. Yesterday I had an interesting discussion with him which started out with his comments about the concept of time. He said time was made by man, meaning we have expectations about our lives, our days, and what we want to accomplish, as I outlined above. I told him I appreciated his view, but beg to differ with his belief that man creates time. I communicated to him that God who is outside of time created time for our benefit. Morning and evening, God declared each 24 hour period “good.” Man brought evil into the world by disobeying God. Our attempt to hang onto time is a futile attempt to control our lives and ultimately God. Furthermore cancer is just one effect of a broken world and I would never blame God for it. With regard to time, we put the pressure on ourselves to check off what’s on the bucket list as if a life worth living is based on what we do, especially for ourselves.

I told Rick when I became a Christian my ambitions started to be about serving God and serving others. Since none of us know how many steps we will take on earth, we need to keep eternity in the forefront of our minds. As a believer in Jesus Christ my eternity with Him will be a total fulfillment of the life I’ve partially experienced here. Now we know in part and then we shall fully know. 1 Corinthians 13. In Heaven I live forever serving God and other believers. Rick didn’t run out of the room screaming “Jesus freak”, but did say he thought the things I conveyed to him made sense. 

Unlike the oft repeated phrase it’s “just my opinion" here instead are words we can be sure of; promises we can all take to the bank. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:20, 21)

Now with that we can truly live the way we’re supposed to – at peace in Christ and worry free.

For more posts from Comfort in Christ Cancer Support go to http://comfortinchristcancersupport.blogspot.com/

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