The Wages of Cancer

I was listening to the radio yesterday morning and my favorite people Mike and Amy were joking around as they always do until they started talking about cancer. There was something on the news the day before about how people are at a greater risk of getting cancer from sitting, that's right from sitting in one place for too long.

I hear a lot of really off the wall medical research but this one made me LOL. Mike then began to talk about all of the other things like that we do to much of that cause cancers like smoking and drinking and eating that cause too much stress on the body and cause normal cells that reproduce to mutate and become rapidly growing cancer cells. He thought if sitting would cause cancer then smoking and drinking wouldn't cause anymore damage, but he would only eat lettuce from now on.

It was all in good humor but if cancer is caused from doing to much of anything then that's suggesting it is our fault. So my question is, what has a child done too much of to deserve cancer?  I'm going to let you think that one through for about one second until I say "absolutely nothing" because no child deserves cancer and no child has Done too much of one thing to deserve a death sentence. So why do kids get cancer? Why do adults get cancer? Why do some things put you at greater risk than others? What risks if any are there for children? There is no happy answer for these questions but there is something that I find as the heart of the matter, something deeper than flesh and blood, something spiritual.

The Bible says "For the wages of sin is death... (Romans 6:23 NIV)

Notice that it does not say that the wages of Cancer is death? Of course it doesn't say that and it doesn't say a lot of other things that lead to death, but it does say exactly what does lead to death. I don't know of any medical studies that research Sin but I still know it leads to death. I know that we are all capable of sin and I know that no one is immune from sin and I know that no one can ever be free of sin until they are free from the temptations that we feel from the body we live in. I'm not saying kids deserve death from cancer because they are disobeying their parents and not going to bed on time or asking for candy after refusing to eat dinner, but what I am saying is that we are all, from the very dawn of our beautiful lives, born into a body that will one day fail us and this because of the sin of mankind. We were born into a curse that sentenced us to death in a body that will perish with a soul that will be judged. It's still sounds to harsh for a boy like Lincoln who smiles with dimples and pretends to be Batman and shares his favorite things with his Daddy, but its true. So why does God let bad things happen to good people? Read the book, read Romans, specifically chapters 6-8 and get the bigger picture that ours lives are so, so temporary and that with an eternal perspective we will one day reap the benefits of the Kingdom of God. Yes there will be sin and yes there will be suffering but among them will be blessings in this life that cannot be measured, the greatest of which is Gods plan of redemption from sin for anyone willing to receive...

...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NIV)