Before I came to faith in Christ, I never thought of myself as a "wretched man," as Paul uses the term in Romans 7. In fact, I thought I was a pretty good guy. I didn't rob banks, I didn't beat up old ladies, I didn't steal cars I had pretty much avoided all the "biggies." I thought my soul was in great shape.

And when it came to my body? Well, not to brag, but I was quite a specimen. A strong, lean, fighting machine. It's what got me to the major leagues. I thought I was invincible and that nothing would happen to me. "Wretched man?" Not me! My body was in just as good shape as my soul. Maybe better.

When someone believes this kind of thing, as I did, he really can't be too careful about what he reads. The only way to perpetuate such a lie is to keep away from the truth. And to keep away from the truth, you had better avoid the Bible. That was my mistake; I began reading God's word. And what I found there blew my self-image all to pieces.

I had started reading little pieces of good news such as Ecclesiastes 7:20: " There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." I would note verses like Proverbs 20:9: " Who can say, I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin'?" I would gulp when I saw that even somebody as "good" as King David could say, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5). And then the Word started getting personal.

The image I had of myself as a good guy just slightly below the stature of, say, Billy Graham, took a nosedive when I started reading the book of Romans. I soon realized with alarm that I was and am a sinner. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Paul wrote in Romans 3:23. I underlined the word all in my Bible so I would remember that I qualify, along with everyone else on the planet. That was hard to take, but it would soon get worse. When I got to Romans 6:23, I read that "the wages of sin are death." Now, hold on! I don't rob banks! I don't beat up on old ladies! I don't steal cars! Sure, I sin. Everyone does. But

No "buts" about it. "The wages of sin are death." No exceptions. You sin, you die. Period. I finally realized that because of our sin, all of us already are terminal, whether we have been diagnosed with a terminal illness or not. Fortunately, however, there is more to the message than that. "The wages of sin are death" is only the first half of the verse; the second half says, "but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." And just a little before that Paul had written, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).

This gave me the hope I needed, especially when I read the payoff verse in Romans 8:1: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And how did I get "in Christ Jesus"? What did I

have to do? Paul answered my question almost before I could ask it: "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Rom. 10:9-10).

Once I had done that, I was "in Christ." Now my soul truly was in great shape.

And my body? You know the story. When cancer invaded my life, I started to realize very quickly that the body of death" Paul was talking about didn't refer solely to our souls. I started coming to grips on a very personal level with the magnitude of the fall of man. Like never before, I started to understand the implications of Adam's sin in both the physical and spiritual realms. The curse came home to me: "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. I will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return" (Gen. 3:17-19).

Because of sin, both our souls and our bodies were cursed. That is why Paul cries out, "What a wretched man I am!" Wait a minute me, wretched? You bet. You, Wretched? I'm sorry, but the answer is "yes.' Then Paul asks his own question and fortunately for us, gives an answer: "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Jesus bore the spiritual penalty of our sin on the cross. That's taken care of the moment we come to him in faith. Yet our physical bodies are still subject to decay. He has promised that one day he will take care of that, too, when he clothes us in indestructible bodies that will never wear out and never feel pain or see decay (see 1 Cor. 15:35-57). But for now, we will still see the results of the Fall in our own fragile bodies. We still feel pain. We still suffer. We still watch as disease or accidents or old age cripples, maims, and eventually kills all of us.

Even in this in-between time, however after our spirit has been renewed but before it's our body's turn We can look to Jesus Christ and begin to understand how God can provide the comfort, the strength, the encouragement, and the healing that is necessary on the journey of life when we come face-to-face with suffering.

The greatest healing of all occurs when we own up to our sin, confess it, and turn to Jesus in faith. Then his blood washes it all away and transforms us into new creatures, spiritually whole and healed. That is the greatest healing of all, and it prepares us to cope with affliction when it comes barging into our lives.

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Reprinted from "Do Not Lose Heart, " by Dave & Jan Dravecky, Zondervan Publishing, Copyright 1998.