Jesus Is Better Than Zyrtec
Spiritual Symptoms Aren’t Seasonal
Allergy Season
It’s pollen season, people! When trees try to kill us with their lovemaking. The 1.47 billion Loblolly Pines in my state don’t even hide their disgusting habits. All of them are opening their cones willy-nilly while hoping for strong winds. Well, their prayers have been answered! The pines’ yellow pollen, helped by its unique air bladder, allows it to stay airborne and travel long distances through the wind. In some cases, that’s 100 miles! To those with hay fever, this is a giant yellow dust bowl of death. The pollen is covering our homes, cars, and, yes, our lungs. As a result, we’re sneezing, itching, and coughing. It’s a good thing my mother told me a long time ago that the Kyle family doesn’t have allergies.
According to my mom, all Kyles are superhuman, and I believe her. She is my mother and, as a result, is incapable of lying. On the other hand, the rest of the mortal world has to take Zyrtec like Tic Tacs. What’s Zyrtec doing? It’s managing your body’s alarm bells. Those signals that cause you so much pain are trying to tell you something is very wrong—we call these signals symptoms. In this case, your symptoms are telling you to stop living near trees and move to Nevada.
You see, our symptoms aren’t the real problem; they are only your alarm system indicating that you have a bigger issue. You’ve likely experienced a cold virus or, God forbid, Covid. We all know the feeling. We have a runny nose, we sneeze, and we feel chills. This is coupled with a fever, body aches, and—worst of all—a crazy low energy level. In short, the symptoms of a virus are terrible. But they’re just symptoms, warning you of a larger problem… you got COVID!
Spiritual Symptoms
In the same way, we can have sinful symptoms that highlight a deeper, more critical spiritual problem. But I fear Christians everywhere spend more time treating these symptoms rather than addressing their root sins. Take these sin symptoms and their potential root issues, for example:
• If you struggle with a sinful symptom of judgment and bitterness, your real issue is likely pride. Constant bitterness could be the outpouring of deep-seated pride and self-righteousness.
• If you have addictive symptoms, look more deeply at what you worship. I expect your sin’s origin point to be closer to glorifying false idols than simple bad habits.
• A symptom of neglecting spiritual disciplines often means you have an apathetic love of God. Those with a lukewarm love of God care little for godly pursuits.
The Real Sinful Heart Disease
Actual heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide; it claims over 17 million lives each year. The only good news is that nearly 80% of cases are preventable. But it means you have to do something about it. We must make everyday choices like eating well, staying active, and managing stress. Similarly, we need to make consistent, healthy spiritual choices to address the disease in our calloused hearts. One hundred percent of spiritual death is preventable if we address the hardness of our hearts.
The Apostles’ Creed takes our sins seriously. When we confess, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” we are claiming a belief that our hard hearts have been made new. As God said through Ezekiel, “I will take away your stony heart.” And A.A. Little, FPC Meridian’s pastor in 1935, put it this way:
“Our natural heart is stony hard, impervious to truth and right. It must be utterly removed. It mustn’t be softened but destroyed. The old man must be crucified.”
Scripture teaches from the beginning that our spiritual heart is dead. So, in essence, we need a heart transplant. Yet, too often, we only treat sin’s symptoms and neglect the heart of our problem. That’s why our strategies to manage sin symptoms never work long-term. We’re only addressing surface-level sins while ignoring our real problem. This will sound radical, but you don’t need less sin; you need a new heart. We don’t need less sin; we need more Jesus.
God’s Forgiveness: More Than Words
God’s forgiveness is not mere words of pardon but full restoration. If you’ve never heard this before, let me be the first: the cure for a dead and sinful heart is Jesus’ forgiveness of sins. (Read that again) Jesus forgives you. The sin you’re afraid to say out loud because you’d get fired? Jesus says, “I forgive you.” The sin that took three years of counseling? Yeah, Jesus died to say, “I forgive you.”
1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.” Jesus’ bone-deep forgiveness has brought radical freedom. So, no more pretending. He knows our every sin, yet He withholds none of His love.
Martin Luther prayed:
“Jesus, you are my righteousness; I am your sin. You took on yourself what was mine; you set on me what was yours. You became what you were not that I might become what I was not.”
No More Managing Symptoms
We can stop trying to self-treat our sinful symptoms. This habit only prolongs the sin cycle. God’s holy church doesn’t need people who are better at managing their sins. God isn’t interested in a cleaner stone heart. Instead, prayerfully discover the heart behind your sinful behavior. Ask Jesus to get to the root of your sin. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring deep conviction into your life. Then, ask God to forgive you. He will!
At times, when Jesus healed the sick, He often began by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” The bodily healing came after the spiritual healing, so the physical sign was a testament to a spiritual reality. There is power and new life in Jesus’ forgiveness. Address your heart before the Lord and see if your symptoms improve.
Confessing Sin in Prayer
Lord Jesus, I confess that I have spent more energy managing my sinful symptoms than surrendering my hardened heart. Forgive me for treating the signs while ignoring the disease of sin itself. Give me a new heart, one healed by your mercy and made alive by your grace.
Thanks for praying; God Bless You! I hope you’ll read and pray with us next Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
He got that right Kyle’s do not have allergies! If you say it enough times, you will believe it🤪