Cancer – The Big “C”

  Do you have a cancer-prone personality?

            Well-known pastor and TV personality Joel Osteen often invites his mother to share her remarkable story of healing from cancer.  She relates how, after being told she had but a few weeks to live, she began to participate in an amazing comeback to complete health.

In addition to medical treatments and fervent prayers, she researched and began regularly quoting Biblical scriptures related to healing, plastered pictures of her “healthy self” all around her house, and she also wrote letters of forgiveness. 

Perhaps she didn’t know it then, but that was important.  Researchers have identified unforgiveness as one of the emotional traits which make people more vulnerable to cancer.  Therefore, following this important Biblical command makes even more good sense.   Science once again proves what God’s been telling us all along:          “Do what I tell you, and your life will be a lot better!   (My paraphrase)

Carl and Stephanie Simonton, early theorists on this subject, identified 4 traits of the “cancer-prone personality:”

1.    A great tendency to hold resentment and marked inability to forgive

2.    A tendency to self-pity

3.    A poor ability to develop and maintain meaningful long-term relationships

4.    A very poor self image

According to their theory, these negative emotions eventually express themselves in the body.  Malignancy is thus despair that has been experienced biologically, despair at the level of the cell.

            Despair at the level of the cell? -  that graphic description cries out for help, and a perfect time to reach for the combination of Biblical scriptures and Christian counseling. 

1.     Resentment & Unforgveness: 

Ephesians 4:31-32 – “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

2.    Self-Pity:

Psalm 37 – the entire chapter instructs us how to “delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  V. 4

Proverbs 15:13:  “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. 

3.     Inability to maintain long term relationships:

In addition to the many Biblical admonitions to enjoy a healthy marriage, the Bible also instructs us that a good friend can be of great help.

Proverbs 27:9 – “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel”

Proverbs 27:17 – “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

4.    A very poor self image

There are many scriptures which remind us we are accepted, secure and significant.  A few of them are:

John 1:12 & 15:15 – “I am God’s child; I am God’s friend.” 

Romans 8:35-39 – I cannot be separated from the love of God.

Matthew 5:13,14 – I am the salt and light of the earth.

Want to be healthy?  Want to have a long, cancer-free life?  Make sure you don’t have despair at the level of the cell – replace those negative traits with hope, happiness, and asking for help!