Saturday, March 16, 2013

Who Sinned?

Isn't it amazing how negative our Christian thinking can be sometimes.

As an example. We come across a person or family with serious health issues, be it physical, mental or emotional, and that little voice in your head says something like 'What sin bought this illness on them?'.
There is, of course, a biblical basis for this thinking. There are continuous warnings throughout the scriptures that warn about the consequences of sin.

But I believe Jesus set the model for our response to sickness and illness.
In John 9 we see that the early disciples were just like us.
Jesus comes across a blind man and the disciples ask who sinned to bring this illness on him.
Jesus answer should be our immediate response to that little voice.
'This illness happened so that that the work of God might be displayed.'
But what does it mean '...that the work of God might be displayed'.
Does it mean that we pray for that persons healing and thats it. I'm not belittling prayer. Prayer is very important in every situation and God can miraclously heal people. But I think Jesus words go deeper than that.
The Bible declares that God is love, 1Jn 4:16, so if we go back to John 9 we can read this verse '...so that the work of love might be displayed.' or to paraphrase the verse '...so that love may be the prominent feature in that situation.'

To blame sin the the easy option. It puts the cause of the problem out of our hands, but when love is put in the equation, that puts the solution in our hands.

It's interesting that in the parable of the sheep and goats Matt 25:31-46, of all the examples Jesus could give he specifically talks about looking after the sick.
Prayer is very important but too often we leave it at that. We forget about the 'looking after' part so that the work of love might be displayed.
If we don't do the 'looking after' part then maybe the question really is 'Who sinned?'.

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