Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Is Sin Related to Sickness?

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree")" Galatians 3
The previous blog post "Does God Allow Sickness for His Glory?" received a great response on LinkedIn. Some readers cited verses to argue that God lovingly (?) uses sickness to glorify Himself. Others cited verses to claim that God never allows sickness for His glory. At one point, it seemed to me like a game of tennis with aggressive and prolonged volleying from one end of the court to the other. So does it mean that the Bible contradicts itself? No! Not if you interpret it correctly.
One question that bothers people sometimes is this: "My friend is saved - her sins have been forgiven and she does not have any unconfessed sin in her life; then why did this sickness come upon her?" When I began this series of posts on healing, I said it was on healing. So in a sense, whether you are sick because you committed sins or you are sick even though you have no unconfessed sin in your life - it does not matter. Jesus did not command "they shall lay hands on the sick who have repented, and they shall recover." He simply said "they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:18)
Once you are healed - or during your healing - if you repent of your sins before God, the sickness loses legal grounds to be in you. But if you have not repented, the sickness can come back to you. But there it is - it can come back. This means it can go. So if a born again child of God commands in faith and with the authority he has, for healing to take place, the healing has to take place. In fact, Jesus did not even ask us to 'pray' for healing. He simply said we would lay hands on the sick and they would recover.
One more thing - those who fatalistically accept sickness saying it is God's will for them to be sick; these people still go to the doctor to get treated. Why? If you do not want to tolerate the sickness physically, then why should your Father who formed your inward parts (Psalm 139:13) tolerate it? Wouldn't He pull out all stops to ensure you got your healing? As I see it, it is basically a matter of indoctrination and sticking to your guns. But at all times Truth must stand. We children of God here on Earth, need to enforce God’s will (the Truth) here as it is in Heaven.
In the next post, we will discover why even sinners (saved and unsaved alike) can be healed even though they may have unconfessed sins in their life. Later, we will also see that the original promoter of sin was the devil - not God, Adam or Eve.
Praise the LORD!