Chapter 3: Spiritual Cancer
CHAPTER 3
SPIRITUAL CANCER
Cancer. That word will stop you in your tracks, especially if you hear it applied to you or someone you love. That happened to me when my first wife was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I remember thinking, This can’t be happening to us. But seventeen months later she was gone.
Cancer is a condition in which certain kinds of body cells start growing uncontrollably. Sometimes they invade the tissue around them. Sometimes they jump into the bloodstream or the lymph system and metastasize (spread) through the body. Left alone, they will usually cause death. It’s a horrible reality.
And so is sin.
In fact, you can think of sin as spiritual cancer. If it isn’t stopped, it can spread and contaminate every area of our lives. Seemingly small sins can lead to more serious ones — lustful thoughts to illicit sex, anger to murder. Sin can even “metastasize” into the lives of other believers, tempting them to sin as well.
Sin, you see, is more than wrong actions, unkind words, or even those bad thoughts we never express. It’s a thing deep inside of us. I call it a principle. You can also think of it as an inner force or a tendency, even a chronic disease. Our sinful actions, words, and thoughts are simply symptoms or expressions of this sin thing, which Paul called the flesh. (Some Bible versions translate this as “sinful nature.”)
Don’t get confused and think “the flesh” just refers to bodies or sexuality. Biblically speaking, it’s the term for our basic, selfish impulses and desires. It’s such a powerful reality within us that Paul sometimes spoke of it as a living person (see Romans 7:8-11; Galatians 5:17). And it unfortunately sticks around after we become believers. Even though our hearts have been renewed, even though we are saints set apart for God’s purposes, our flesh still fights for control.
If we fail to understand that, we make it easy for the sin in our lives to metastasize. Even our sneaky, respectable sin. Maybe especially that kind of sin, because we tend to ignore it.
The disease of cancer can be tricky, even deceitful. It can lurk unnoticed for years and reappear when you think you’ve beaten it. That’s exactly the way respectable sin operates in our lives. Its effect on us is subtle and easily overlooked.
Subtle is the very opposite of obvious or in-your-face. That word can be used in a good sense to mean delicate or refined. But it can also mean wily, crafty, or treacherous — yes, sneaky. Subtle sins deceive us into thinking they are not so bad … or thinking they’re not really sins … or not even thinking about them at all. It’s easy to live in denial about this kind of sin or gloss over how bad it really is.
The seventeenth-century Puritan pastor Ralph Venning didn’t do that. His book The Sinfulness of Sin describes sin as vile, ugly, odious, malignant, pestilent, pernicious, hideous, spiteful, poisonous, virulent, villainous, abominable, and deadly. Sounds like he was describing a supervillain in a movie or graphic novel! In Venning’s view, all our sin, even the sneaky, subtle stuff we might not consider sin, is supervillain bad. To tolerate it in our spiritual lives is as dangerous to us as tolerating cancer in our bodies.
But sin is not just harmful to us. It affects God, too.
I once heard someone describe sin as cosmic treason. That may sound over-the-top, especially when we’re talking about “little” stuff like being sarcastic or holding a grudge. But think about it. God is absolutely pure, absolutely transcendent, the absolute Ruler over all creation. When we violate His law in any way, even with our “minor” sins, we’re really rebelling against Him. Our sin really is cosmic treason. It’s a rebellion and an affront. But it’s something else as well — something more personal.
Do you know the story of David and Bathsheba? King David saw a beautiful woman and slept with her even though he knew she was married. Then he even arranged the death of her husband, Uriah, to cover up his adultery and married Bathsheba himself. To put it mildly, God was displeased with David’s sin. He sent the prophet Nathan with a message for David: “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah … and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me” (2 Samuel 12:9-10, italics mine).
Note the use of the word despised in this passage. First God accused David (through Nathan) of despising His Word. But then He said, “You have despised me.” Don’t get stuck on the awfulness of David’s sin and miss the application of these words to our respectable sins. When we indulge in any sin, big or little, we are despising not only God’s law, but God Himself. Think about that the next time you are tempted to blow off some “minor” sin!
But the bad news about our sin gets worse, because sin actually has the power to make God mourn. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (4:30). The apostle was warning the Ephesians about certain sins involving relationships — lying, stealing, lashing out in anger, tearing others down with our speech, treating others unkindly (see verses 25-32). And he implied that God actually experiences sadness when we do stuff like that because He’s not just our Ruler and Judge, but also our loving Father and our Redeemer. He cares about what happens to us and how we treat each other, and our disobedience actually causes Him pain.
And don’t let the sneaky nature of sin fool you into thinking that sin doesn’t matter because God forgives it. God does forgive, but He never overlooks or tolerates sin. He always judges it. The difference for believers is that God has judged our sin in the person of His Son. Do we really want to presume on His grace and tolerate in ourselves the very sin that nailed Christ to the cross?
And don’t forget that your every sinful thought and word and deed is done in the presence of God. Paul told us that God even understands our inner motives, that He “will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1 Corinthians 4:5). When we sin, it’s like we’re acting it out right before God’s royal throne.
It doesn’t matter whether our sin is scandalous or respectable. It’s still sinful, only sinful, and altogether sinful, and it’s heinous in the sight of God. God forgives our sin because of the shed blood of Christ, but He does not tolerate it. Instead, every sin that we commit, even the sin we don’t even think about, was laid upon Christ as He bore the curse of God in our place.
Christ suffered because of our sin. That’s the bad news about our sin, and, as you can see, it’s really, really bad.
And how do you respond? Do you find yourself wishing that a certain other person would read this chapter? Or does this view of our sin make you want to fall on your knees before God and say you’re sorry for all the sins you have tolerated in your life? Does it make you want to repent and find a way to live differently?
If the latter is true, then you are ready for the good news.
And it really is really, really good.
YOUR TURN
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)
ENGAGE
1. This chapter compares sin to cancer and says it can “metastasize” in our lives and even into others’ lives. Give an example of how you think this happens.
2. What’s Paul’s term for the “sin thing” that lives deep inside us? In what specific ways do you feel its presence in your life? How do you usually try to fight it?
3. Why is it so important to take our “respectable sins” seriously?
BRING IT TO GOD
Do what this chapter suggests. Actually get on your knees before God and say you’re sorry for all the sins you have tolerated in your life. Ask for His forgiveness and His help in battling your sneaky sin.