Blessed are the Sick, for They Shall Seek a Healer

     Ok, so that's not exactly one of the beatitudes, but I thought it would be a good phrase to jump this entry off. I’ve been looking around me and seeing a lot of Christians who are doing very well. Everyone’s life seems to be fine, nobody has any real problems, and we all seem amazingly content with the state of things. This, I think, is a serious problem.
     You see, the people around me (heck, even me!) don't look sick, and nobody is anything like broken. Some people might just think we've somehow mastered living properly and learned how to not make any serious mistakes. I have another perspective, though. As one of these people who don't appear sick, I’m pretty sure everyone is just ignoring their symptoms.
     As a Christian, I know perfectly well that everyone sins, and that everyone is poisoned by the sinful flesh they live in. if this is the case, we're all sick -- so why don't we look sick? Perhaps we've merely forgotten to see the symptoms. Our sickness is so common, we hardly notice it. We know there's no real cure except death and glorification, so why continue to take notice of sin? It seems old fashioned to live a life of penitent confession. It seems depressing, don't you think? Wouldn’t you much rather just focus on the joy, and peace, and love that Christ brought us? Who cares about sin when you've got Jesus?
     I think that, while focusing only on the happier aspects of life in Christ may be a reasonable, attractive, and even honest approach, it lacks some degree of reality. Sin is still just as real and just as serious for saved people as it is for unsaved people -- and it should be treated accordingly. I was listening to Derek Webb’s podcast recently, and Derek was talking about music. He said that Christian music often talks all about the happy, joyful things about being a follower of Christ, but leaves out the difficulty and hardships. He says that it's only a half-truth, and that a half-truth is just as good as a lie. Half-truths are misleading, and have the same effects as lies would.
     There’s another reason we as Christians should look seriously at our sins: it's that people don't like self-righteous people. People can't relate to people that look like they're perfect. What kind of witness are you to people who know they're fallen and broken if you don't look anything like them? In my experience, people listen to people who are like them. They don't listen to the advice of people who have never been where they are. A self-righteous person doesn't seem like the kind of person who could possibly understand what the broken person is going through, so whatever solution they offer will likely be disregarded.
On the other hand, someone who really sees their sin for what it is -- a terrible offense against the Almighty, worthy of eternal damnation -- will be a more humble person, and the kind of person that real people can relate to. We’ll be able to level with people completely, because we know that we're in the same boat as they are without Christ’s propitiation.
     Have you ever noticed how salespeople aren't always the most likeable people? You know they're just there to sell you something and tally up their earnings. They’re professionals who were hired to sell you a product, and consequently, they might have a hard time being convincing. This is how a lot of people see Christian evangelists -- as salespeople for Jesus. They see us as some brainwashed hypocrites reading a script, and it doesn't seem to them that we really care about the product. Sometimes, Christians just want to make a sale, and that's how they act.
     Now, have you ever had a friend tell you about some product they used (not that I advocate the treatment of god's gift of salvation as a "product" -- this illustration shouldn't be over-applied)? They’re not on the payroll of general mills; they're just telling you about the cereal they really liked. They’re not being coerced to tell you where to get cheap clothes; they're telling you because they discovered this great outlet mall when they had trouble paying for clothes like you do. They’re telling you about this Jesus character because they know what it's like to be guilty, drowning in your sin -- they're not trying to sell a product; they're trying to offer a solution that works!
     Last but not least, I’d like to point out the reality of the law. God gave the law to people for a specific reason: so they'd know what they're supposed to do, and what they're not supposed to do -- and then that they'd realize how totally screwed up they are. Realizing the state we're in ought to motivate us to seek god. If we were ok people who could make it through life just fine on our own, we wouldn't need saving. However, if we see ourselves as hopeless on our own -- which we are -- we'll be compelled to seek the cure for the disease that consumes our hearts.
     If you don't realize how horribly evil you are, how can you understand how much you've been forgiven? If you don't think you're sick, you'll never appreciate what the medicine does for you. I used to take medication for depression, and after taking the medication for a while I started to think I didn't need it anymore. I was doing fine, so i might as well not take it. See, I didn't think I was sick anymore, so I didn't think I needed medicine anymore -- that's a problem!
     In reality, our sickness is never quite healed -- not in this life, anyway. So if we ever feel as if we're healed, we're obviously not seeing things properly. Indeed, having been ultimately saved from our disease often causes us to forget we have a disease at all, but we must remember that without the cure -- without Christ -- we're hopeless and as good as dead already. We cannot let ourselves be lulled into a false sense of wellness!
     I suppose I'd like to conclude this with a sort of phrase of summary: if you don't constantly understand the extent and severity of your sin, you surely won't begin understand the extent and severity of God's grace! It is for this reason, then, that we must see our sin: that we might be better worshippers of our heavenly Father!