Illness and disease are on the rise

 Reason #1: There is a Desperate Need

Illness and disease are on the rise — God has answers

Most Americans are either sick, depressed, diseased, over-weight, struggling with sleep issues, suffering from chronic pain, or they will develop these illnesses or symptoms in their lifetime. Christians are not magically protected from these maladies. Are you suffering from any of these symptoms?

If so, you are not alone.

We have observed that the pews of many churches are dotted with people who are suffering these very symptoms. We have regularly seen Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, fibromyalgia, diabetes, heart conditions, strokes, chronic fatigue syndrome, high blood pressure, stress, dementia, cancer, prostate problems, macular degeneration, obesity, and the list could go on. It hurts to think about, but I can put faces with every condition mentioned. And since moving back east, I can add Lyme Disease to the list.

Now there are lots of reasons that people get sick, but many, if not all, of these conditions could be helped or even eliminated by making simple changes in lifestyle. These changes are built upon principles that can be found in the Bible.

No doubt there is a need, and no doubt there is a solution. But first a person must be convinced that God truly has authoritative answers. God has designed our bodies; He knows our intimate workings better than anyone else. He knows better than a friend, better than a nurse, better than a doctor, better than an HMO, even better than we ourselves.

Again, I must emphasize that a person must be absolutely convinced that God is their Primary Care Physician, both spiritually and physically. All other advice and care must be supplementary.

Please read More Complex Than Rocket Engines for further consideration of the importance of looking to the Designer for healing.

And God does indeed care about your health. It is not sinful or wrong to seek good health. The apostle John speaks to Gaius about his health and prays that his health would prosper as his soul prospers. This is found in 3 John 2.

Unfortunately, I have heard some Christian leaders argue that making changes for the gain of health is vain, for it will not add any time to your life. They use Hebrews 9:27 as their support, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” The reasoning is that if God has “appointed” a time for us to die, there is no use trying to add years to our lives by making major lifestyle changes regarding health.

I have never heard of that same reasoning when a paramedic is needed during a heart attack. Can you imagine your spouse saying, “Dear, there is no need to call the paramedic, it is not going to add any years to my life.”

Another false support given to substantiate the vanity of seeking health is God’s sovereignty. The reasoning is like this: if God is sovereign over everything, we have no control over our health.

Please do not buy into this wrong thinking.

All of Scripture is truth, and man's appointment with death is certain; and God is completely sovereign over creation. However, God works within our daily decisions to lead us into His will, and He ordains both the ends and the means.

Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” In addition, God’s sovereignty has never negated man’s responsibility for the decisions that are made contrary to God’s revealed truth or the laws of nature. Seeking good health, in itself, is not vanity. It could be vanity if we are seeking good health for selfish reasons and ignoring the rest of God's law to attain it. But we advocate seeking good health to the glory of God, which will be demonstrated in further articles.

There are many suffering Christians who need physical healing. God has the answers. Let’s seek those answers from the Bible.

Next: Reason #2: The Bible Talks About Health. Here