Professor Grimwell stumbled down the front steps of his house, racing away from his wife. She lumbered after him, moaning in Zombie language, “Come back, darling. I only want to eat your brains.”
The professor, heartbroken, called over his shoulder, “I’ll find a cure, sweetheart. I’ll find a cure.”
That’s our subject for the day; THE CURE
!!! Spoiler Alert. This is a series, which deals with Spiritual Zombies. Go to the category tab on the right side of the blog page, select Zombies!!! to see earlier installments.
Last time, I ended by asking the question, “Are you a Spiritual Zombie?” We defined them as those who have sinned, therefore have died on the inside.
Quite frankly, if you answer “NO” to this question, I think you aren’t being honest with yourself. You’re like a woman I knew. Sadly, she was dying of cancer. Her husband was worried about where she’d spend eternity. He asked me to come talk to her. A little ways into the conversation, I turned the subject to the spiritual. “We’ve all sinned,” I told her.
“I haven’t sinned,” she answered, a confident smile on her face. A wall went up. The conversation was over.
It’s tough when you’ve blinded yourself to the truth. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Take an honest-to-goodness look at your life. You aren’t perfect. You sin. So you need to ask yourself, “If this sin has caused a separation between me and God, what are you doing about it?”
Your answer may be, “Now that I’ve been warned, I’ll stop sinning. That won’t work for a number of reasons. Let me point out two of them.
1. You Have to be God to not sin. Maybe we think we can stop sinning, because we classify sins; the nasty ones that get us kicked out of God’s presence and the little ones that He’ll overlook, like some overindulging grandfather. “Poor little Jr. He didn’t mean to be bad.”
Yet the Bible does not classify sin. Read what Jesus said- Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment…And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Boy, am I in trouble. I mean, I’ve never killed anyone. That’s an all capital letters “SIN!!!” Yet Jesus talked of calling someone a fool, or getting angry with them, in the same light as murder. But aren’t those lower case letters, “sin”? Hardly even noticeable? Not in God’s eyes. Sin is sin.
2. To Stop Sinning Doesn’t take Care of the Original Problem. Let me illustrate. Two boys are out in the yard, playing catch. In order to keep with the zombie motif, we’ll make them Zombie boys. They’re playing catch with someone’s head . . .
Too much? Probably.
Mommy zombie tells them to be careful that they don’t break the house’s big bay window. “Don’t stand in front of it,” she warns. Then she goes shopping. The two boys ignore mom’s advice and continue playing in front of the window. It isn’t long before the ball sails passed them and smashes the window to tiny pieces. Seeing the damage they’ve done, they immediately move. “We’d better do what mommy said.”
When mommy zombie comes home, they holler, “Look, mommy. We’re standing just like you told us to.”
It doesn’t take mommy long to spot the shattered glass. “But you broke the window! Who’s going to pay for that?”
“But we’ve moved. We’re listening to you.”
As much as the two boys were doing what they were told right then, the damage was already done. The window was broken and the cost for repairing it would be much more than they could afford.
That’s how we are. We may say that we are presently following God’s way, but truth be known, the damage is already done. We have sinned. The relationship with God is broken. Being good now, doesn’t pay for past sins.
On top of that, the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) In other words, what we’ve earned is death. The price for our sin is too much for us to pay.
So how have you dealt with the price for your sin?
Be of good cheer! God has the cure!
To be continued