Forgiveness of Sin Brings Healing

[Thompson, Darryl]

Forgiveness of Sin Brings Healing
 
     Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who
forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. Ps. 103:2,
3  

     The Saviour ministered to both the soul and the body. The gospel
which He taught was a message of spiritual life and of physical
restoration. Deliverance from sin and healing of disease were linked
together. The same ministry is committed to the Christian physician. He
is to unite with Christ in relieving both the physical and spiritual
needs of his fellow men. He is to be to the sick a messenger of mercy,
bringing to them a remedy for the diseased body and for the sin-sick
soul.  

     When the poor paralytic was brought to the house where Jesus was
teaching, a dense crowd surrounded the door, barring every way of access
to the Saviour. But faith and hope had been kindled in the heart of the
poor sufferer, and he proposed that his friends take him to the rear of
the house, break up the roof, and let him down into the presence of
Christ. The suggestion was acted upon; as the afflicted one lay at the
feet of the mighty Healer, all that man could do for his restoration had
been done. Jesus knew that the sufferer had been tortured with a sense
of his sins, and that he must first find relief from this burden. With a
look of tenderest compassion, the Saviour addressed him, not as a
stranger, or even a friend, but as one who had even then been received
into the family of God: "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven
thee."  

     Many are suffering from maladies of the soul far more than from
diseases of the body, and they will find no relief until they shall come
to Christ, the wellspring of life. Complaints of weariness, loneliness,
and dissatisfaction will then cease. Satisfying joys will give vigor to
the mind and health and vital energy to the body.  

     Today Christ is feeling the woes of every sufferer. . . . He knows
how to speak the word, "Be whole," and bid the sufferer, "Go, and sin no
more." 

>From My Life Today - Page 154