Why Do Christians Get Sick?
|
I am sure that you have wondered why God allowed your child to have autism.
This question leads to broader questions. Why does He allow suffering? Why is there sickness and disease?
God made a perfect world with perfect people originally. Genesis 1:31 says that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” However, sin and death entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that he “must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” And now in this fallen world, bad things sometimes happen to good people.
The sin is not necessarily our sin or the child’s sin. It can be anyone’s sin, too. Others decisions and actions can adversely affect us. For example, our world is polluted with toxins and our food supply is tainted.
However, we all have disobeyed God’s commandments through the generations. In particular, we routinely violate God’s dietary laws and in turn destroy God’s temple causing sickness. Then, we wonder "Why do Christians get sick?"
The following two passages convicted me and encouraged me to eat healthier - the way that God wants me to eat.
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
By the way, I just love the book “Holy Cow: Does God Care About What We Eat?” by Hope Egan which clearly explains why Christians should be following the food laws in the Old Testament.
Furthermore, sickness can also glorify God by allowing an opportunity for healing. Faith can increase in others when they witness a dramatic healing.
Remember John 9:1-3 when Jesus healed the blind man? 1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Physical disorders can also glorify God by allowing an opportunity for us to show God’s love and mercy to others by the way that we interact with them. In addition, our own faith can also be strengthened through the process of dealing with a chronic illness.
And, there is hope. In the future, God promises in Revelation 21:4 that He will restore creation and “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”
Reverend George Malkmus has written a wonderful book on this subject called “Why Christians Get Sick”. I highly recommend this book.
We do know that God will heal your child. We just do not know when this healing will occur. It may occur soon or it may occur in the after life. However, it will occur! We have God’s promise!
I encourage you to explore more questions and answers about the
Christian perspective of autism.
Return HOME
Return to Top of Why Do Christians Get Sick? Page
