Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sin & Illness

This week in Sunday school we talked about Mark 1&2, the miracles that Christ performed.  We also talked about which miracles we would have liked to have been alive to see and why.  We covered some really awesome stuff, including something that I had never thought of before.  It seemed like SUCH a critical point to be made, and yet I'd overlooked it many times.  

What I learned is in the New Testament, in Mark 1:23-25:

23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

24Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

25And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
There are two things that strike me from these short verses.  One, that the unclean spirit is testifying that the man in front of him, who teaches in the synagogues as "one with authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22), is in fact, Jesus of Nazareth.  How odd that an unclean spirit would acknowledge the Savior in such a manor; that he would testify that this teacher is in fact, the Holy One of God.   

The second thing that blew me away was how Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit's testimony. Long have I remitted this simple, but profound truth.  The reason the Savior rejecting the unclean spirit's declaration of His divinity is because converting testimonies DO NOT come from Lucifer.  They DO NOT come from unclean spirits.  An evil entity CANNOT declare the good of something, yet cannot disregard the authority of the priesthood that Jesus Christ holds.  

Bam!  I love that!  It is so enlightening! 

Another thing I learned about miracles comes direction from the Bible Dictionary under the topic, Miracles.  “Miracles should not be regarded as deviations from the ordinary course of nature so much as manifestations of divine or spiritual power. Some lower law was in each case superseded by the action of a higher."  

This is also a piece of great knowledge that I have overlooked.  It's amazing & I love it.  A miracle doesn't mean that something unattainable happened in my life, it simply means that Heavenly Father, because I first acted in faith, somehow, is exercising His Power in my life.  That is heartwarming really.  Just think of all the miracles he is willing to enact in our lives if 
we only show a little more faith. 

The final thing I've been thinking about recently is also found throughout Mark chapters 1 & 2.  It's something that we didn't even get to discuss in Sunday school, but something that I can't put from my mind. In Mark 1 & 2, the Savior is continuously healing sickness & illnesses.  In Mark 2:5 Jesus heals the man with palsy:

5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 
When He healed the man with palsy, He was deliberate in saying, "thy sins be forgiven thee."

Sin can be equated with illness.  This DOES NOT mean that I am saying all those who are sick have caused it by their own sins.  That IS NOT the case.  But, there are some illnesses that are cause by sin.  The real message of me equating sin with sickness has to do with repentance.  If we do not repent, must always have illness.  If Christ would not forgive us, our very existent is for naught.
I hope everyone is having a really awesome week.  Take some time out to help someone else, to call that old friend you've been meaning to.  Get on your knees and talk to your Heavenly Father, apologize & ask forgiveness for the things that you should.  He loves you, I promise. He has blessings He is waiting to give you, you only need ask.  

Love, 
          
    
  

0 comments:

Post a Comment