Sickness and Sin?

The first thing is first. I will say that not all sickness is directly associated with personal sin in one's life. This was the mistake of the Pharisees in the gospels. They associated the cause of one man's ailment with a personal sin or the sin of his kindred (John 9:2). Not all disease is due to sin in one's life, but the purpose of this particular entry is to show some passages that teach a direct link between sin and health. My assesertion is that the Bible teaches the Holy Spirit has a direct affair in managing the church, and that he brings about some illnesses in order to refine/discipline His church. The illnesses are brought about because of sin.

Here are two passages. The first is explicit of my point and the second is implicit in nature.

1 Cor. 11:27-31

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died."

James 5:14-15

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

Unfortunately these passages don't directly correlate to modern day church affairs. When is the last time you saw someone fall ill due to sin when taking communion? The presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit cannot tolerate sin in His church. This is most evident in the book of Acts. When He really shows up, He may have to take some names (Acts 5:5-11). Look at Ananais and Sapphira.

It is not a matter of debate. When the Holy Spirit really comes to refine His church, He will not tolerate sin. Little white lies have no room in the inn. We are left with trivial sin management in the flesh if we don't have the Holy Spirit actively working. Churches in America have the former and not the latter.

Tolerance never used to be a virtue until this present crooked generation was born.

Two Kinds of Believers?

Luke 10:38-42

"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her'. "

Jesus does not want a domesticated woman. He wants a worshiper, even though He loves both the same. The nature of this passage is not so much about the object of worship, Jesus, as it is about the worshiping subjects. The subjects are the recepients of the blessing of gazing upon the face of Christ.

The minds of Mary and Martha were in two different places. Martha's mind was busy about the mundane. She thought she was assigned the all-imporant task of preparing the room for the Kings of kings. The problem is she thought she was assigned the chores for the kingdom, and she even wanted this perceived assignment to come upon Mary. Martha wanted Mary to share in her burden. The characteristics of Martha's frame were worry, fear, anxiety, and many such things. She thought her will was the perfect will of Christ. She was wrong.

I can only picture the placid nature of Mary opposed to the worry of Martha. Mary was simply loving the best she knew how at that point. Martha thought she was loving God and doing the best for the kingdom. She was missing out on the face of God promised to the ancient Hebrews in which many righteous men yearned to look.

I believe this passage as far as I know in part is revealing something critical in part. It reveals a type of temporal loss to the sincere believer. The paradigm in the flesh is service for the kingdom. Doing, doing, doing, when Christ calls us to be, be, be, a worshiper. Mary reveals the tranquil nature of the one gazing upon the face of God. The perfect will of God is so simple, yet we complicate it.

The Lord pity the domesticated ones of which I have been apart.