On Cancer, Healing, and Losing and Gaining Life

Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. Luke 17:33

This month, I was pronounced “cancer free.”  Well, the doctor didn’t exactly say those words, but he did indicate that as of now, prostate cancer is undetectable in my body. I’m going to take the win. “Cancer free” is what I heard. It marked the end of a journey that started March 2024 when my regular physical indicated elevated levels of PSA which is the marker for prostate cancer. Over the next 18 months, I has surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, scans, tests and many, many, many doctor’s appointments.

My wife was my rock on the journey. Prayer warriors were invested in my healing. Many people and many churches were praying for me. Each medical specialist was deeply invested in a positive outcome. And I appear to have it. I am grateful to God for using so many people to heal me.  

In my reading this morning–maybe thinking a bit about my new “lease on life”–I came across some words of Jesus that made me stop. Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it. Okay, Jesus, I have spent 18 months trying to keep my life. Yet, You are telling me to lose it?  The context of the verse is the second coming of Christ–the day when the Gospel is completed (Jesus was prophesied, He was born, He lived and taught, He was tried, crucified and buried, He rose from the dead and He will come again–this is the Gospel). The “Day of the Lord” is coming when the curtain comes down, when God’s justice replaces man’s justice, when earth as we know it comes to an end, when old earth is replaced by new earth. Volumes have been written about how it will happen, charts have been prepared about when it will happen, but those pale in comparison with the declaration that it will happen.

What does all that have to do with cancer? The irony is in priority. Why has God allowed me to live with cancer when many persons die of cancer. When you have cancer, you contemplate dying–it comes with the disease. You have a sense of urgency, of things left unsaid or undone. Jesus was speaking of the end of time when nothing more can be said or done, so naturally His hearers wanted to know how long they had, how to anticipate when it would happen. In v.20 of this chapter, Jesus told religious people who were expecting awesome, tangible, earth-shattering signs that announced the coming of Messiah that those signs would not come yet. “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed...for behold the kingdom of God is in your midst.” In other words, what disciples do with the lives they are given is the kingdom of God (until He is ready to come with all of the cool signs that come with the disruption in nature). 

The observable sign of the kingdom of God is that Jesus-followers are making the most of every day that they have. They are doing the things He has been teaching–honoring His Word, speaking of the ability to repent and be saved, forgiving those who hurt us, seeking justice for the poor, the prisoner, the marginalized. They are gathering in community to worship, and pray, and study. They are going out on mission, they are coming back with the incredible stories of Jesus showing up in their words, their actions, and their servant hearts. 

We were created on purpose for a purpose. We are given life to lose that life in service to the King. I am especially grateful for the prolonged opportunity that represents the “true riches” of v.11. Thank you for praying. Thank you for checking on me. Thank God that I am presently cancer free. Pray with me that I can make the most of it.