As a college student I attended a fall homecoming celebration when the unthinkable occurred – an outbreak of shigellosis swept through the student body causing a gastrointestinal nightmare on the campus. The bacteria associated with this intestinal infection are extremely contagious. It is easily transmitted from an infected person and quickly contaminates water, food, or other people. Its effects are obvious, but those who are infected are not. Thus, the Board of Health had to come to the college campus and test each student to determine if they were unwitting carriers of the bacteria. How it came to the campus was unknown, but its presence was obvious. It took weeks for the campus to get back to normal, and a number of students ended up becoming very ill. All of this havoc occurred because of an unseen bacterial nemesis.
There is another unseen nemesis that has infected our world. This is not a physical bacteria; it is a spiritual disease called sin. Sin may be unseen in a life, but the worldwide consequences are both obvious and devastating. They impact every person on earth. The Bible reveals, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The source of this contamination is known and described by the Apostle Paul as Adam. He concludes, “Through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (5:19). The damage of his sin is devastating, as Paul adds, “For if by the transgression of the one the many died” and “judgment arose from the one transgression resulting in condemnation” (5:15-16). Talk about mega contamination with major devastation!
All this is pretty bleak unless one looks at the love and mercy of God. He not only reveals the diagnosis of human condition, he intervenes to provide the divine solution for this spiritual disease. God provides a free gift of the spiritual antidote through the gracious gift of Christ who provided the means by which sin could be both removed and forgiven (5:15-16). So often people are like Shakespeare’s Macbeth when it comes to dealing with their sin. Remember after Macbeth murders Duncan he keeps trying to deal with his sinful deed by physically and compulsively washing his hands. It was an act of futility. His good intentions of trying to deal with his sinful act were pointless. Sin results in more than a physical manifestation. It leaves spiritual, mental, and emotional stains deep in our lives. Only God can provide the means to deal with such stains.
Reformer Martin Luther observed, “If ungodliness and worldly lusts were painted on the wall of the house, you might run out of it; or if they were knit to a coat, you might take it off; if they grew in your hair, you might shave your head. But since they stick in your heart and possess you through and through, where will you run without taking yourself along?” Likewise, we are not capable of concocting the necessary antidote to deal with this spiritual disease, sin. However, God in his mercy has provided an antidote as a free gift. This provision deals with more than the symptoms of sin. It deals with the source of our sin.
As one person put it, “Running from an epidemic does little good if you are in fact the carrier of the disease. You must stand and deal with the problem.” That’s what God wants to enable you to do. While the wages of sin is death, we also discover that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). Pointing to Jesus the ultimate one to deal with the disease of sin, one individual notes, “With the Sin Doctor on your case, the prognosis is always bright.”
