What Cancer Cannot Do

          I remember the first time I heard of it. I was ten years old.  My Granny Key was real sick. And my Mom was very  sad.  They said it was cancer.  I didn’t really know what that meant.  I just knew the deep concern it caused my parents.

          Since then we have experienced this dreaded disease more than I care to think about.  Aunts. Uncles. A nineteen year old cousin.  My own mother. 

          Most of us have been touched by this disease either in our family, friends, or church family.  We have seen it ravage the body of the young and old alike.  It is no respecter of persons, this ugly enemy of mankind  called cancer.

          When cancer affects our family, it seems our worse fears have been realized.  It evokes  a variety of emotions—disappointment, despair, desperation, depression, even anger.  ““Why me?’

          However, a cancer survivor wrote a short piece that puts it in perspective  for all of us. This unknown author writes.

Cancer is so limited …
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot destroy peace.
It cannot kill friendships.
It cannot suppress memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot steal eternal life.
It cannot conquer the Spirit.

          I definitely do not mean to trivialize or minimize the pain and agony that cancer causes.  Nor do I wish to give a flip answer to someone who has cancer or has lost a loved one to this dreaded disease.  I have wept in the face of this ugly monster.  I know its hurt. Its pain. Its agony.  But I also know there is another viewpoint this unknown author shares. It a spiritual insight, a Biblical outlook, an eternal perspective that we are not unfortunate victims in a random, senseless universe.

          You see, because of Jesus, cancer does not have the final say in the grand scheme of things.  No disease, not even cancer has greater power than Christ.  To suffering Christians, Peter penned these words of comfort and assurance:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:3-4)

          Christians have hope.  Yes, there may be hope we will defeat cancer and live a longer life through patience, prayer and God’s providence.   But the greater hope is not in being a cancer survivor, but in Christ the Savior.  Hope of eternal life.  Cancer cannot destroy the hope that Christ gives!  Cancer cannot steal our inheritance!  Cancer cannot kill the soul!

          Thank God through the resurrection of Christ, we can defeat this dreaded disease and live with God

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman