Categories
Christian Living

Is My Physical Pain a Punishment From God For My Past Sins?

So the title above was the question I received from a friend a while back. The full question with some extra comments was posted yesterday. And I want to thank those of you who shared some of your responses with me.
a man holding his head in his hands, symbolizing pain - could such pain be a punishment from God?
It’s a serious questions, and one that many people wonder about. Here was my Response:
There is not much theological support for us having God continually punish us for past sins. Paul was a persecutor of the church, but when he repented, God used him greatly. He did end up having a “thorn in his flesh” to contend with, but God did not tell him it was because of punishment for past sins.

Yes, God does discipline His wayward children, but it is used to bring us to repentance and restoration. As you pointed out in the opening of your question, much of what we contend with in the areas of pain are simply consequences of our own making, which God allows us to experience.

A person who chooses to get drunk habitually may lose his family. This would be a consequence of his poor choice of behavior. But we also often are dealing with the consequences of someone else’s sinful behavior. For example, the person who loses his family to an accident caused by a drunk driver is suffering the consequences of someone else’s bad behavior. We live in a depraved, fallen world that makes life tough. That does not mean it is God’s punishment, but rather just the consequences of our inviting sin into this world which has caused continuous and growing damage.

In the same way, when Adam rebelled against God, he invited disorder into God’s perfect world. Sickness and disease have come to us due to this continued disorder and decay. And so we don’t typically look at the cancer that someone gets as being a direct punishment from God for a specific sin, but rather as a consequence of the decaying world that we (humanity) caused by our sin as a human race. So we find that our sin has even affected life on the cellular level.

Therefore, I wouldn’t look at an injury that is causing pain as punishment from God today for sins from your past. Rather I would look at the physical pain that you are experiencing as a consequence of living in a world that should have been pain-free, but is not due to our sin. Now we must live with pain while we long for the day when we can enter the eternal Kingdom where God will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Could God supernaturally heal us of the pain we are suffering in the here and now? Yes. And sometimes He does. But usually we are allowed to continue walking through the pain with our hand in His. Enduring the consequences of our own bad behaviors, the consequences of others’ bad behaviors that affect us, and the consequences of those “thorns in the flesh” – all of these help us learn as Paul did – that when we are weak in and of ourselves, we are able to find our strength in our relationship with Jesus.

And so to all who are struggling through pain or illness, may you place your hands in His, may you find your strength in Him, and may you continually look forward to celebrating together in eternity at having healed bodies and no more tears!

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Categories
Christian Living

Back in the Saddle Again

saddle
Photo Credit: U.S.G.S. Museum

Two weeks ago my posts mysteriously disappeared once again. The reason… I had headed off to Mexico for a mission trip and didn’t have an easy way to post while I was there. (I’ll share some of the trip with you in the near future.) And then last week was “catch-up” week on all the things that had piled up on my desk. But now that I’ve almost caught up, I’ll get back to posting! Time to get back in the saddle!

It is said that in the late 1700s, a German prince traveled through France and visited one of the prisons. To show his respect to this important visitor, the commander over the prison invited the prince to select any single prisoner to be set free. In order to make the best decision, the prince spoke to one prisoner after another, asking each one why he was condemned to this prison and punishment.

What he found was that one after another told him of the injustice, oppression, and false accusations that had caused him to be placed here. In fact, from their accounts, they were all injured and ill-treated persons who were wrongly convicted.

At last he came to one who, when asked the same question, answered: “Your Highness, I have no reason to complain. I have been a very wicked, desperate man. I deserve even worse punishment than this and to be broken alive on the torture rack. I consider myself to have received a great mercy by being here.”

The prince looked hard at this man, smiled, and said: “You wicked man! It is a pity you should be placed among so many honest men. By your own confession, you are bad enough to corrupt them all; therefore you shall not stay with them another day.” Then, turning to the prison commander he said, “This is the man, sir, whom I wish to be released.”

Interestingly enough, we find ourselves in the same situation. We are desperately wicked people who deserve severe punishment. But the moment we are willing to admit our sins to Jesus, we find liberty.

The Word of God indicates that if we say that we have no sin, we make God out to be a liar, but if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Categories
Christian Living

Dying Is Easier Than Living

a cemetery to symbolize that dying is easier than living Dying… Easier Than Living? That can’t be true, can it?
Dying is something that many people fear.
Death is personified as a frightening grim reaper.
So how can death be easier than life?

For a Christian, death is not only easier than living… it is better than living.

Death is better than living?
Paul tells us – To Live is Christ, And To Die is Gain.
He says – death is very much better than life because it means I get to go and be with Christ forever. But if God has me staying here, then I know I have work to do for Him… to share Christ with more people and disciple them.

But if we have to stay on in this “fallen world,” then there will be difficulties, there will be trials, there will be temptations. These things can make living seem like a difficult prospect.

Jesus tells us that in to become a follower of His, you must lose your life… you must die to self.

To lose my life for Christ means that I make a decision to refuse to reject and renounce Christ, even if that means that I might face the punishment of death. And honestly, in many ways it would be easier to die as a martyr than to live for Christ in the way that He expects and requires. “Going out in a blaze of glory” for Him could be noble and heroic. People would write about me and my faith. I would be inspiration for others. But living for Him day in and day out. Living for Him in the midst of the trials and temptations I face doesn’t seem particularly heroic, and it sure can seem tough.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jesus demands loyalty to Him over our family. Not only does He demand loyalty over family, he also demands loyalty over self and over every part of our lives. The more we love this life and its rewards (leisure, power, popularity, financial security), the more we will discover how empty they really are. The best way to “find” real life, then, is to loosen our grasp on earthly rewards so that we can be free to follow Christ. We must risk pain, discomfort, conflict, and stress. We must acknowledge Christ’s claim over our plans, our dreams, & our careers.

Matthew Henry stated it this way:
“Now thus the terms are settled; if religion be worth any thing, it is worth every thing: and, therefore, all who believe the truth of it, will soon come up to the price of it; and they who make it their business and bliss, will make every thing else to yield to it. Those who do not like Christ on these terms, may leave him at their own peril.”

I believe that Jesus is worth every thing.
I believe He is worth my very life.