A few years ago I came across a gospel tract by an anonymous author by the title “What cancer cannot do.” I thought it was touching, and that it might be useful someday, so I took a picture of it with my phone. On the day I was diagnosed with cancer I remembered it and sat down to translate it. The Spanish version is here.
Cancer is so limited…
• Cancer cannot cripple love.
Imagine you had a friend who loved you enough to take the cancer out of your body and put it into his own body. He did this knowing that he would die, but you would get to live your life as a healthy person. Wouldn’t that be wonderful for you but a great sacrifice for him? Likewise, Jesus Christ loved you so much that He died in your place so you could be forgiven of all your sins and live forever in Heaven. Three days after Jesus died on the cross, He came back to life! Now He, as a living and risen Savior, offers you eternal life in Heaven as a FREE GIFT (paid in full by Jesus Christ).
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
Adam and Eve, the first people, sinned. Because of their sin, a curse was placed upon mankind. Now we are all born sinners, and suffer sickness and death. (Romans 5:12). Physical disease in itself is not sin; it is merely the result of Adam’s sin. But the presence of cancer in your body in no way diminishes God’s great love for you as demonstrated at Calvary’s cross.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
God understands the needs of your body and soul, and He genuinely loves you. Although God can heal the body, He doesn’t always do so. Everyone eventually dies, and God is far more concerned about our soul, the inner part of each individual that lives on through all eternity.
• Cancer cannot shatter hope.
The Bible states that since we all have sinned, we can’t earn God’s favor or stand on our own merits before a Holy God.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
This verse indicates that we all clearly cannot have any hope regarding our future destiny apart from God’s grace. If God were to judge everyone for their sins, He would have to condemn every person to an eternal Hell, because this is what we all deserve. But in the face of this bad news, the Bible declares the good news to us! God the Father gave a perfect solution: His only Son who became a man, Jesus Christ. Jesus, being God in the flesh, had no sins of His own. He was uniquely qualified to die on our behalf and take the punishment for all of us who have sinned against a Holy God. Upon the cross, Jesus Christ cried out, “IT IS FINISHED” (John 19:30), as He paid for our sins — past, present, and future. God now insists we take His offer of Heaven as a FREE GIFT. God gives it freely to undeserving sinners because Christ paid for it completely through His death on the cross. Many today are offering to pay for Heaven by doing good works or religious activities. Instead of paying for Heaven by what you have done for God, He wants you to come to Him trusting in what He has done for you. The Bible states in no uncertain terms that there will be no boasting in Heaven:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Cancer can’t shatter your real hope if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior to save you from sin’s penalty.
• Cancer cannot corrode faith
If you believe the Bible, then you can have faith in the Lord Jesus in the darkest moments and valleys of life. Faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior allows you to KNOW with absolute assurance that you have eternal life now and in Heaven later:
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13
While it is my hope that you will survive your cancer, we know that the reality is, one day you still are going to die. So God wants you to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life now (through faith alone in Christ alone) and that Heaven will be your future home forever. Then you can say with confidence like the psalmist of old:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want…. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:1, 4
• Cancer cannot eat away peace or destroy confidence
Your peace and confidence can be based on the fact that Jesus Christ is the only true way to God and that He wants to guide you through life to eternity:
Jesus said, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross to save you, I invite you to do so right now and possess lasting peace with God.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
If you already know Jesus Christ as your Savior, why not cast upon the Lord in prayer the trial of your cancer and trust Him with the results while you enjoy the peace of God?
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Your cancer will never destroy your peace with God through Jesus Christ, nor does it need to rob you of the peace of God as a believer in Jesus Christ as you learn to faith-rest each day in His care and precious promises to you from His Word – the Bible.
• Cancer cannot kill friendships or shut out memories.
Once you have trusted in Jesus Christ to save you, even when you fail or sin in the future, He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). God never takes away the gift of eternal life that He freely gave you, nor does He ever go back on His promises. God can never lie (Titus 1:2). You can trust in Jesus Christ to remain your true friend during your entire trial with cancer:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27-28
• Cancer cannot silence courage.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12
You will not have proper courage to face the future if you continue to trust in the wrong objects to get you to Heaven: yourself, your religion, baptism, good deeds, sacraments, or false cover-ups. I appeal to you to trust in the grace of God. Cast all your faith on the only reliable object of salvation: the Lord Jesus Christ. Then each day, as you deal with your cancer, you can draw on God’s amazing grace resources in the very same way that you were saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
• Cancer cannot reduce Eternal life.
The way to Eternal Life is a very simple solution provided totally by God. You do not have to promise to be good, for God accepts you just as you are, with a repentant heart. You simply have to trust that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again to save you, and the gift of Heaven is yours! While your prognosis about your cancer may not be good, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed “good news.”
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3.16
• Cancer cannot unseal the Spirit; and it cannot lessen the power of the Resurrection.
Salvation is provided totally by God, and offered freely to you by God’s grace. Grace refers to God’s undeserved kindness and favor. The very moment you trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior, you receive the Holy Spirit who seals you forever as God’s child. Once sealed, the Bible guarantees you can’t lose the gift of eternal life and that one day you will receive a new glorified body at the resurrection. This new body will be a body that will not be subject to death or disease; it will be cancer free forever! If you are in Christ, your soul will go to Heaven upon death to await the fulfillment of God’s promise of a future bodily resurrection:
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14
THE GIFT OF SALVATION can only be received by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. WILL YOU AGREE WITH GOD, AND TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD, THAT THIS GIFT OF SALVATION IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED RIGHT NOW?