The longer I preach, the more analogies I see everywhere I look, and especially in my own life.
For instance, earlier this week I woke up with that dreaded super raw throat that I get when I suffer from drainage all night as I sleep.
I took medicine for three days to try to kick what was increasingly feeling like a sinus infection, and I progressively got worse, not better.
I assessed my options. I could keep using over-the-counter medicine and hope for the best or I could go to the doctor and see if I could get some stronger medicine.
In the past, I typically opted to suffer until I felt that there was no other option but to go to the doctor, but since I’ve already had one bout of sickness this winter, I decided to learn from my former mistake and go to the doctor before my minor illness became major.
I am full of good prescription medicine as I write this and I already feel tremendously better.
So, where’s the analogy?
Living through this bit of illness and seeking remedy, combined with studying Peter’s sermon from Acts chapter three, I couldn’t help but think of repentance and salvation.
Peter lays out the evidence to the crowd, piece by piece, argument by argument, doing everything possible to convince them of their need for repentance and salvation through Jesus.
Some people, then and now, hear the truth, know what they should do, and respond immediately to the call of God to follow Jesus.
Some don’t though. Some think they’ll follow Jesus someday. They don’t see the immediate need. Like the person who tries to make it in life with over-the-counter meds, they try to make it in life without Jesus, after all, their life isn’t all that bad.
Why do people do that? Some love their sin and hate the thought of giving it up. These people are terminally ill and have no idea. They just don’t feel sick. They don’t feel like they need the “medicine” of Jesus because they don’t believe they are in danger of hell.
The better the temporary circumstances, the harder it is to see the need. We live in a world where it is possible to find many counterfeit types of comfort. And if a person has everything they want in this life, and achieve a worldly form of happiness and contentment, how do we convince them they are sick?
We do it the same way that Peter and all of the true teachers of God’s Word did before him and after Him. We preach the Word. We preach Christ crucified. We tell people the bad news of their condition and then explain that God has not left us helpless, but given us the antidote to our soul’s poison. We show them Jesus in our love for them and we show them Jesus in the text of the Bible.
Much Love,
Wes LeFlore (918)607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
