Trillia Newbell: The life of the Spirit

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Monday, May 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Trillia Newbell received some unexpected news about her health. 

She sees a spiritual lesson in it.

TRILLIA NEWBELL, COMMENTATOR: On a recent trip to the doctor, I got some surprising news:

“You might need a blood transfusion,” my doctor said with a disturbingly urgent tone in her voice.

“A blood transfusion? What do you mean?”

“I’m contacting a hematologist for you to see, and I’d like to see you in my office again in a week.”

I went to the doctor for something completely unrelated and left with a diagnosis of severe anemia.

My symptoms were little to none, but my red blood cells were all but depleted. I had been doing intense physical activity—lifting weights and running. I would get short of breath, but I simply thought it was due to a lack of fitness, not a lack of oxygen in my blood!

My doctor explained that people with my low blood count would typically be extremely fatigued, even laid up in bed. But I had energy. My dangerous situation was masked by feelings of normalcy. My doctor said my body had learned to adapt to running on fumes.

But I felt fine—more than fine. I felt great.

Sin is much like my experience with anemia: you feel fine—and you might even be energized or think a little won’t hurt you. All the while it’s slowly killing you.

It’s the grudge that you hold onto until bitterness has taken its deep root in your heart. It feels good at first—the slight snub or the cold shoulder. But after a while, you keep holding on and your perceived enemy goes on freely living. You are trapped in unforgiveness, while they have moved on. And it’s killing you.

Or it’s the secret dabble in sexually explicit material that you’ve convinced yourself won’t hurt anyone. A little look here and there. No one will know. No one gets harmed. It feels good. But your marriage bed has been defiled, and you slowly begin to need more than what God had intended. And it’s killing you.

Right now, if I’m cut, I might hemorrhage. Unrepentant and habitual sin will leave you hemorrhaging, too. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

But there’s good news: You and I don’t have to wait for an appointment to get the diagnosis. We know that we all fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). We have a Great Physician who knew our condition from the beginning. Nothing is hidden from His sight.

God sent His Son to forgive us and free us from the bondage of our sin (Rom 6:17-18). By His wounds we are healed (Is. 53:5). And we have the power, through the Holy Spirit, to live in victory over sin.

Even though we continue to battle, the Physician has declared us clean. The pure and righteous blood of Jesus has made us clean.

Now that’s the kind of blood transfusion I can celebrate.

For WORLD Radio, I’m Trillia Newbell.

(Photo/Creative Commons)

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