Everyone has kidneys in their body. And kidneys are fine – their is nothing wrong with them. But, suppose one of our kidneys gets a disease and soon that disease spreads to other parts of our body. We go to the doctor and they tell us that first they have to fight the disease that has spread from the kidney, and they also have to remove the diseased kidney. Well, we tell them to just fight the disease that has spread to the rest of our body, that is fine – but DON’T remove the kidney!! We can’t make it without it!
Well, that would not be a very wise choice on our part would it? Because while they may be able to fight off the disease that has spread to our body and we may be able to function better with that disease gone for a few days or weeks or so, soon the disease that is still in that diseased kidney is going to spread back into our body, and when it comes back the second time, it will be even more destructive to our body than before. No – the only way to have a good life is to get ALL of the disease out of our body INCLUDING the kidney that has turned from something good into something bad because of the disease.
Now, we can argue all day and night with the doctor about how kidneys are perfectly fine…after all – everyone has them. There’s NOTHING wrong with having them! And that is true. However, when a kidney has become overrun with disease – it can kill us. The only way to save our life is to remove it!
The same is true with our lives as Christians. Now, salvation is simply placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Accepting the fact that we are sinners, and believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, and that through His shed blood the penalty for our sin was paid. That is salvation – we can’t do anything to earn or deserve it. However, AFTER salvation, if we truly want to see God work in our lives and find the true peace and joy His Word talks about, there are some necessary surgeries that we might have to do. We have to get rid of anything in our life that is preventing us from having daily fellowship with Him. And the stuff we may have to get rid of is not necessarily the same for EVERY Christian. Some things that people are “addicted” to or have pulled them away from God are not in any way tempting to some other people and vice versa. Just like everyone doesn’t have a diseased kidney.
In Hebrews 12:1-2, the Bible says, “…let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…” If we have a diseased organ in our body, it will drag us down and make our life increasingly difficult. And when we have things in our life that keep us from giving our ALL to JESUS CHRIST, they destroy and eat away at our life as well. The solution is to GET RID OF THEM! Just like opting to have a surgery to remove a diseased organ is not fun or easy, many times, getting rid of something that is weighing us down and keeping us from finding true joy and happiness might not always be easy. However, in BOTH cases, we’ll be a LOT better off by having the “surgery”.
I know getting rid of some things that we have done for years and years or that “entertain” us, is NOT easy – but, when that thing is what is standing between us growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ and becoming all He wants us to be, it is time for surgery! We have to make a choice! We can either say, “forget it, I can’t be happy without that!” or we can say, “Yes, I’ll GLADLY remove it, if that’s what it takes to KNOW JESUS CHRIST!”
Just like having a healthy life is good and much more enjoyable than a life filled with pain and disease, having a DAILY personal relationship with God that grows and grows is MUCH MUCH more enjoyable than a life filled with the things of this world that keep dragging us down.