Having one's physical health is a great gift that we often take for granted when we are not sick. When we are not well, we will do almost anything to improve our health situation. Most of us want to live long lives with the best health quality that we can, and we will allocate tremendous financial resources towards this end. It seems that everywhere I go these days people are talking about health care and the proposed changes to our current system that are in the works in Washington DC. Our country spends more on health-care per person than any other country in the world. In fact, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2007 we spent 16% of our combined financial resources on trying to improve or maintain our health. This was over 2 trillion dollars! That's a number almost too large for me to even wrap my mind around - 2 followed by 12 zeros.
People seem to have always been searching for ways to improve their health and live longer lives. In the Gospel of Mark there are a couple of accounts that come to mind of people that went to great lengths to obtain physical healing. They were ultimately healed for free by Jesus, the Great Physician. The first is found in Mark 5:25-34 where a woman had lived with a constant bleeding for 12 years! She had gone to every doctor she could find, and spent all of her money to try to improve her health, but in all of this effort, her health only got worse. She had heard about the ability of Jesus to heal people, and had the faith that just touching his garment would heal her. If fact, that was exactly what Jesus allowed to occur! In our world today, we come across many, many people each day that are sick with the spiritual disease of sin. Many of these people search for answers to their problems in the wrong places and with huge sums of money - materialism, drugs, alcohol, and various man made philosophies and religions. Our role as Christians is to point these that are seeking to be healed of sin to the only one that can correct their spiritual disease - Jesus Christ, the Great Physician. The only means for spiritual healing is by coming in contact with Jesus through baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
The second account I want us to focus on is found in Mark 2:1-12. This is the record of the paralyzed man who was trying to get to Jesus for healing. This man needed the help of his 4 friends to get into the proximity of Jesus, since he could not walk. Jesus was at home in Capernaum, and there were so many people crowding around that the paralyzed man could not get close to Jesus. The man's friends then took him up onto the roof of the home and began removing the roof and lowered the man through the opening so that he could get to Jesus, the Great Physician. Jesus recognized the faith of all of involved, and healed the paralyzed man - so he got up and walked home from there in front of that large crowd! As application for us today, we need to be friends to those who need to come to Jesus and help them along their way. As has been highlighted in the evangelism class this quarter, it often times takes the combined efforts of many working together to bring a diseased soul to Jesus for healing.
Finally, spending time and money to improve our physical health and extend our lives is a good thing, and we should help to take care of the physical needs of those that we can. Despite our best efforts and no matter how much money we spend, however, we will all some day die (unless Jesus comes back first). But as Christians, we are already provided with a spiritual long term health plan with ultimate coverage. In contrast to our earthly health benefits, it is a plan that we cannot afford, could not buy, but that has already been purchased and given to us freely as a gift by our savior Jesus. When the day comes that we pass from here to eternity, won't we be glad that we as Christians have the best long term health coverage available - which is everlasting life in Heaven with Jesus who is able to completely and permanently heal our spiritual diseases!
People seem to have always been searching for ways to improve their health and live longer lives. In the Gospel of Mark there are a couple of accounts that come to mind of people that went to great lengths to obtain physical healing. They were ultimately healed for free by Jesus, the Great Physician. The first is found in Mark 5:25-34 where a woman had lived with a constant bleeding for 12 years! She had gone to every doctor she could find, and spent all of her money to try to improve her health, but in all of this effort, her health only got worse. She had heard about the ability of Jesus to heal people, and had the faith that just touching his garment would heal her. If fact, that was exactly what Jesus allowed to occur! In our world today, we come across many, many people each day that are sick with the spiritual disease of sin. Many of these people search for answers to their problems in the wrong places and with huge sums of money - materialism, drugs, alcohol, and various man made philosophies and religions. Our role as Christians is to point these that are seeking to be healed of sin to the only one that can correct their spiritual disease - Jesus Christ, the Great Physician. The only means for spiritual healing is by coming in contact with Jesus through baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
The second account I want us to focus on is found in Mark 2:1-12. This is the record of the paralyzed man who was trying to get to Jesus for healing. This man needed the help of his 4 friends to get into the proximity of Jesus, since he could not walk. Jesus was at home in Capernaum, and there were so many people crowding around that the paralyzed man could not get close to Jesus. The man's friends then took him up onto the roof of the home and began removing the roof and lowered the man through the opening so that he could get to Jesus, the Great Physician. Jesus recognized the faith of all of involved, and healed the paralyzed man - so he got up and walked home from there in front of that large crowd! As application for us today, we need to be friends to those who need to come to Jesus and help them along their way. As has been highlighted in the evangelism class this quarter, it often times takes the combined efforts of many working together to bring a diseased soul to Jesus for healing.
Finally, spending time and money to improve our physical health and extend our lives is a good thing, and we should help to take care of the physical needs of those that we can. Despite our best efforts and no matter how much money we spend, however, we will all some day die (unless Jesus comes back first). But as Christians, we are already provided with a spiritual long term health plan with ultimate coverage. In contrast to our earthly health benefits, it is a plan that we cannot afford, could not buy, but that has already been purchased and given to us freely as a gift by our savior Jesus. When the day comes that we pass from here to eternity, won't we be glad that we as Christians have the best long term health coverage available - which is everlasting life in Heaven with Jesus who is able to completely and permanently heal our spiritual diseases!
--Brian Vance
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