Tomorrow by this time I will be without my full compliment of organs. I have been instructed that my gall bladder is giving up its reputation for being efficient and has decided to go on a permanent leave of absence. My doctor is in colusion with my gall bladder and will gladly accept my part in his pension plan. The "Gall!"
I have never been one who does well with needles and such. The anticipation of pain and surgery as "minor" as it might be is not a thought that I deeply cherish. I am of course a man and pain and sickness, along with sharp objects make me cower in fret and nervousness.
As I sat in my doctor's office and listened to him explain how my gall bladder was supposed to work and how it now wasn't, it brought to my mind the reality of a few things. (Honestly I have had this conversation with some and so it isn't a grasping at straws here.)
Sin entered. Adam and Eve fell. The bruising was not a scraping of flesh, but a scrapping of all that was right. And so sin entered. Man has been enduring the effects ever since. Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, and then came the last Adam, Christ Jesus.
The affects of sin on conduct is obvious, but the unforeseen affects on our bodies is something we are becoming more aware of. I find it somewhat interesting that when something is affecting your life how many others you come across that have or are going through the same things.
One of my brothers called me after I sent a quick email to my family and he told me that he had just had two conversations within the last 24 hours with people having just had or getting ready to have the gall bladder removed. It must be a conspiracy! In our church we have at least three people who have had theirs out. Common, routine, "minor surgery" as they call it. When did having parts of your anatomy cut out become routine? Remember sin entered and the effects of sin are abounding. Cancer, disease, disorders, and all the vast titles of procedures and medications we pop and inject.
I am reminded of the story found in John's Gospel:
John 9:2-5 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (3) Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (4) We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. (5) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
The effects of our corruption and the consequences of one man's sin still lingers and will until we are freed from this corruptible and made incorruptible by the power of our living Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. In Him was no sin (1 Peter 2:22). Thus He came free from the curse, free from the condemnation of death, and free to give to us what we could not obtain in our own flesh - LIFE!
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
And what is Paul's hope and anticipation?
Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Sin entered. Sure, but so did God. He entered our existence to offer us what we could not have - hope, peace, love--LIFE! He entered our space to make a space for us with Him for all of eternity.
So, I will be less the man I was, but one day all will be made complete and what is corruptible now will one day be free from all that is polluted and contaminated. I will be free from sin and free from its consequences. I and my body will be as God intended them to be from the very beginning. "Thanks be to God!"
