A Deadly Sting

The summer sojourners sing out from the trees. By the sound of it, the species of insects seem limitless. I settle down on the back deck for an evening read and quickly get lost in the Text.

For sin is the sting that results in death,

and the law gives sin its power.

[1 Cor 15:56 NLT]

I subconsciously rub my calf to ease phantom pain as I turn this verse over and over and over again in my head.

Beneath my fingertips, a tell-tale scar -- all that remains of an old wound. The mark a result of a bee sting. The left-behind stinger festered beneath layers of flesh, gradually turning into a full-blown staff infection. The poison spread down my leg, eventually making my entire body quite ill.

The doctors fought the infection with powerful antibiotics for weeks. It was still limited in what it could cure, however.

And while the bacteria was fierce and had deadly potential, there is another far more deadly...sin.  Illness of the soul no antibiotic can touch.

But thank God!

He gives us victory over sin and death

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[1 Cor 15:57 NLT]

Jesus Christ brought healing to the sin in my life. Yours, as well. He weakened its power in fulfilling the law and removed its sting by conquering death. Yet another aspect of the Good News for thanksgiving!

God, through Christ Jesus, has given us victory over something far more destructive and far more deadly than an infected bee sting. He fights -- and conquers -- what no antibiotic can master. He is victorious over our physical and spiritual enemies of sin and death where there is no other cure. He is the answer for whatever ails you.


Thanks be to God for the forgiveness of our sin in Christ.  Thanks be that the wage of death for my sin has been paid by Christ on the Cross.  Thanks be for the power to overcome sin in my life.  Thanks be for the promise of eternal life, promise of victory.  Thanks be that by His wounds I am healed.  Thanks be....