Decisions Are Always Made – Even If You Don’t Make Them Yourself

By Pastor Ron Tipton

I spent most of the morning in Venice at my dermatologist as they did a Moh surgery for some skin cancer on my hand.  I have joked that this is my new weight loss pain – “a bite at a time”.  So how did I end up here?  Well, I went to the dermatologist to have a spot on my back checked – it came back as a mole, no big deal. 

But upon noticing a spot on my hand, a biopsy had to be taken there, too.  And the biopsy came back that it was skin cancer and had to be removed.  At that point, I had two choices, right?  Follow the doctor’s advice and go in for the procedure and the accompanying discomfort and healing.  Or I could have said, “I think you got everything when you took the biopsy, so I will pass on the Moh surgery.”  And I know there are some that do exactly that.  There are others who just never go see a dermatologist either and bypass the screening, the biopsies and remain oblivious to any need for a more detailed procedure. 

In fact I have a friend that did exactly that.  There was a spot on his back and he ignored it for quite awhile, until his health began to decline.  As the doctor began trying to figure out the issues with his health, the spot became the cause and by then cancer had spread throughout his body and eventually took his life.  When we talk about things like potential cancer, things get a lot more serious.  I cannot think of a single person who would say that they knowing and willing would tolerate cancer if there was a way to remove it from their life. 

We all understand that it is abnormal and potentially deadly.  Yet, as deadly as cancer is, spiritual cancer that infects and affects us is rarely treated the same.  We saw this yesterday in the people before Elijah on Mt Carmel.  The people remained silent, didn’t answer Elijah’s appeal.  They willingly allowed the spiritual cancer of idol worship and divided worship to be their practice.  They wanted to flip the coin and have it land on its edge, when we all know it will only land on heads or tails.  Elijah’s appeal is true for us today, how long will we play both sides, the world and our wisdom vs God and His wisdom?  We cannot have both and truly follow the Lord.