Why do Christians get sick?
1. Some sickness comes from God (Ex. 4:11).
2. Some sickness comes from Satan (Lk. 13:11-13).
3. Some sickness is chastening for sin (Deut. 28:20-22; Psm. 119:67).
Charismatic Chaos, Zondervan, 1992, p. 266, www.zondervan.com.
When you get sick, do two things: pray for healing and go to a doctor (see Isa. 38:21).
Charismatic Chaos, Zondervan, 1992, p. 268, www.zondervan.com.
The Good News of Christ is not primarily that Jesus will heal you of all your sicknesses right now, but ultimately that Jesus will forgive you of all your sins forever. The Good News of Christ is not that if you muster enough faith in Jesus, you can have physical and material reward on this earth. The Good News of Christ is that when you have childlike faith in Jesus, you will be reconciled to God for eternity.
Taken from Follow Me by David Platt. Copyright © 2013 by David Platt. Used by permission. Website: Radical.net. Page 62.
Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.
Commentary, Matthew 15.
Meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, faith, patience, are all mentioned in the Word of God as fruits of the Spirit… Never do these graces shine so brightly as they do in the sick room. They enable many a sick person to preach a silent sermon, which those around him never forget. Would you adorn the doctrine you profess? Would you make your Christianity beautiful in the eyes of others?
Sickness.
Let us cleave to Christ more closely, love Him more heartily, live to Him more thoroughly, copy Him more exactly, confess Him more boldly, follow Him more fully. Religion like this will always bring its own reward. Worldly people may laugh at it. Weak brethren may think it extreme. But it will wear well. At even time it will bring us light. In sickness it will bring us peace. In the world to come it will give us a crown of glory that will not fade away.
Sickness.
1. Sickness helps to remind men of death.
2. Sickness helps to make men think seriously of God, and their souls, and the world to come.
3. Sickness helps to soften men’s hearts, and teach them wisdom.
4. Sickness helps to level and humble us.
5. Sickness helps to try men’s religion, of what sort it is.
The storms of winter often bring out the defects in a man’s dwelling, and sickness often exposes the gracelessness of a man’s soul. Surely anything that makes us find out the real character of our faith is a good.
Vague, and indefinite, and indistinct religion may do very well in time of health. It will never do in the day of sickness.
Sickness.
Sickness is among all classes. Grace does not lift a believer above the reach of it. Riches will not buy exemption from it. Rank cannot prevent its assaults.
Sickness.
Sin is the cause of all the sickness, and disease, and pain, and suffering, which prevail on the earth. They are all a part of that curse which came into the world when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and fell. There would have been no sickness, if there had been no fall. There would have been no disease, if there had been no sin.
Sickness.
I know the suffering and pain which sickness entails. I admit the misery and wretchedness which it often brings in its train. But I cannot regard it as an unmixed evil. I see in it a wise permission of God. I see in it a useful provision to check the ravages of sin and the devil among men’s souls. If man had never sinned I should have been at a loss to discern the benefit of sickness. But since sin is in the world, I can see that sickness is a good. It is a blessing quite as much as a curse. It is a rough schoolmaster, I grant. But it is a real friend to man’s soul.
Sickness.
We have no right to murmur at sickness, and repine at its presence in the world. We ought rather to thank God for it. It is God’s witness. It is the soul’s adviser. It is an awakener to the conscience. It is a purifier to the heart. Surely I have a right to tell you that sickness is a blessing and not a curse, a help and not an injury, a gain and not a loss, a friend and not a foe to mankind. So long as we have a world wherein there is sin, it is a mercy that it is a world wherein there is sickness.
Sickness.
I firmly believe that God is testing and proving us by every case of sickness within our reach. By permitting suffering, He tries whether Christians have any feeling. Beware, lest you be weighed in the balances and found wanting. If you can live in a sick and dying world and not feel for others, you have yet much to learn.
Sickness.
I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently been of more use to the saints of God than health has.
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 102.
Sickness, when sanctified, teaches us four things: The vanity of the world, the vileness of sin, the helplessness of man and the preciousness of Christ.
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 102.
The only time you have reason to suspect a connection between sin and sickness is when repentance and faith are followed by physical healing. Even then, however, there may have been other reasons for the alleviation of the symptoms.
Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 60. Get this book!
While you struggled with addiction, was it ever accompanied by the fear of the Lord? Did you ever have a keen sense of the presence and holiness of God when you struggled with addictions? Did you ever have a sense that you were spiritually growing in repentance, faith, and obedience while in your addiction? When we have a disease, we can still be growing in the knowledge of Christ, but addictions are incompatible with spiritual growth.
Addictions – A Banquet in the Grave, P&R Publishing, 2001, p. 41, Used by Permission. Get this book!
Sin, unwise living, and guilt can lead to sickness; righteousness and the peace and joy of biblical living can lead to health.
Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 59.
While it is true that disease can be a result of divine discipline and can indicate a need for soul-searching and repentance, it is also true that disease can be unrelated to personal sin. In fact, to say that sickness is always a result of personal sin is actually an old heresy that goes back to Job and his counselors.
Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 23-24.