(Good Friday)
Have any of you ever suffered with a diagnosis of cancer? Or have known someone who has? It can be a pretty scary obstacle to face. There was a young girl who was a very good friend of my daughter Jennifer. She was also the niece of one of my best friends when we were living in McKean, Pennsylvania.
Cindy at the age of 13 was diagnosed with an incurable and rare form of cancer. They gave her about 6 months to live. Cindy, however, chose to battle the cancer in her life and did so with great dignity and faith. She beat the odds many times but in the end, lost her battle against cancer and died several years later. She died way too young, but in her short life, she touched many people and truly in the end she defeated the cancer, because cancer cannot live, cannot exist if the “host” dies. Cindy because of her faith and her acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, lives on.
Now you might be wondering what all this has to do with Joshua fighting inhabitants of the land. Well, the truth is, like a cancer, the Canaanites, and the Hittites and the Amorites, and all the rest of the “ites” needed to be removed from the land. 13:13 says “the Israelites did not drive out the people.” Allowed to live, and they will infect and affect the people. They will turn them from their worship of the one true God. Just like cancer that will destroy the body, the “ites” will destroy the body of believers, God’s chosen people.
It is the same with us today, in that we have “ites” or cancer – known to us as sins that try to destroy our relationship with God. When we allow these sins to continue to live in our life, they too will destroy us. Only when we recognize the danger, can we call upon the power of the Holy Spirit to help us defeat the evil in our lives.
Praise God that Jesus went to the cross for us, to die for us, so that our sins will be taken away from us, and that the Holy Spirit will be able to come into our lives to give us the strength we need. On this Good Friday, I pray that you will reflect on the work that Christ did for us and accept Him as your Savior, because there is no other way to rid your life of the “cancer” and the “ites” that will try to destroy you.
Blessings on this – a very holy day!
Pastor Kathy