Skip to content
Country Lights Uganda - Lighting Today and Tomorrow
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
Country Lights Uganda
Call Support +256700400284
Email Support countrylights15@gmail.com
Location Kampala - Uganda
  • Home
    • Mission Statement
    • Contribution Statement
    • Awards and Recognition
    • Video
  • About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Our Aims
    • Founder
    • Our Policies
      • Children Policy
      • Financial Policy
  • What We Do
    • Children Ministry
    • Creative Arts Ministry
    • Outreach Ministry
      • School Ministry
      • Evangelism Ministry
    • Legal Department
  • Events
  • Projects
    • Current Project
    • Hope Poultry Project
    • Long Term Projects
  • Get Involved
    • Raise Support
    • Child Sponsorship Scheme
    • Sponsorship Terms of Service
    • FAQs
  • Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor a Child
  • Choir
    • Experience Choir
    • Book the Choir
  • Contacts

How to Live the Bible — Sickness and Sin

Home > Blog > How to Live the Bible — Sickness and Sin

How to Live the Bible — Sickness and Sin

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Country Lights Uganda
0

Country Lights Uganda Blog

howtostudythebible

This is the one-hundred-ninety-sixth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.


“If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” James 5:15

Photo of a person holding the hand of a bedridden hospital patient.

James 5:14-15, which speaks about illness, healing, and the prayer of faith, may strike us when it concludes with this statement: “If [the ill person] has sinned, he will be forgiven.” We know that sickness is a real issue in life, and we know that we need our sin to be forgiven—but is there a relationship between the two?

On the one hand, we know it’s very unhelpful—even damaging or devastating—when a seriously ill person keeps asking: “What have I done wrong? Where have I sinned? Why is God punishing me?” We know from the book of Job, however, that this is not the right way to think about our calamities in life. Job was the man who suffered almost more than can be imagined and was told by his “friends” that his serious condition must mean he did something terribly wrong; that he had failed God in a major way. Why else would God be putting him through this?

Country Lights Uganda:   Why FEMA Should Fund Churches Damaged by Disasters

This argument goes around and around in the book of Job, and the bottom line is: No, it’s not right to think there’s a one-to-one correspondence between our distresses and our sins.

Sign up to get the Know the Bible free email lesson series from Bible Gateway.

Job was a sinner, yes. And he lived in a world of fellow sinners, a world that’s broken and often sick because of sin. So sometimes we’re ill just because we live in a world of viruses and carcinogens and earthquakes. Once in a while, however, we do get sick because our sin directly causes the sickness—and then our illness is a direct consequence. If you choose to abuse drugs or be sexually promiscuous, you may suffer the consequences of addiction or a sexually transmitted disease. In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul says that some in that church were getting ill because of their severe spiritual disobedience.

Country Lights Uganda:   Did We Get Tammy Faye Wrong?

So the bottom line is this: When we’re ill we should ask, “Did I do something that obviously caused this?” And if there is no obvious answer, we should not assume God is punishing us and just not telling us why.

So what about “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven”? It means that when we’re in distress and pray “the prayer of faith,” truly entrusting ourselves to God, it’s then that we’ll know the forgiveness of God and he’ll “raise us up.” It all works together. Spiritual health, physical health. Everything is different because the healing power and forgiveness of the Messiah has come.

MAKE IT REAL

List three aspects of your lifestyle that you know affect your health in a negative way. Make a pledge to change at least one of these things, beginning this week.
___________

Country Lights Uganda:   It's Not Just a Blue Christmas. We're Lonely.

___________

[If you believe this series will be helpful, this is the perfect time to forward this to a friend, a group, or a congregation, and tell them they too may sign up for the weekly emails here]


Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.

The post How to Live the Bible — Sickness and Sin appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.

As reported on Christian News Uganda - Access the Original News Source Here.

Latest Blog News

  • Bible Connection Podcast: Designing the Word with Klaus Krogh
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • At the Table Communing with Jesus: An Interview with Louie Giglio
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • Pr Edwin Musiime steps down from the Property show
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • Winning the war on drugs: ‘Christ never gave up on me’
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • Winning the war on drugs: ‘Christ never gave up on me’
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • Temples of the Holy Spirit
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • God Hunger
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 19, 2022
  • How to Live the Bible — Time Alone With God
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • A Hopeful Walk Through the Darkest Valley
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • ‘Tambira Jehovah’ hit singer Mkhululi Bhebhe expected in Kampala
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Israel dropping Covid-19 test mandate for incoming travelers
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Kibuku district: Church attacked for leading Sheikh, wife to Christ
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Be Joyful Always
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Be Joyful Always
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Fruit of Joy
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Fruit of Joy
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 18, 2022
  • Fear or Faith?
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 17, 2022
  • Our Strongholds
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 17, 2022
  • God Our Refuge
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 16, 2022
  • God Our Refuge
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 16, 2022
  • Live Free
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 15, 2022
  • Live Free
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 15, 2022
  • Kept by the Keeper
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 15, 2022
  • The Source of Our Adversity
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 14, 2022
  • Rescued
    By Country Lights Uganda
    In Blog
    May 14, 2022

Blog News

  • Bible Connection Podcast: Designing the Word with Klaus Krogh
  • At the Table Communing with Jesus: An Interview with Louie Giglio
  • Pr Edwin Musiime steps down from the Property show
  • Winning the war on drugs: ‘Christ never gave up on me’
  • Winning the war on drugs: ‘Christ never gave up on me’
  • Temples of the Holy Spirit

Country Lights Uganda

  • Legal Department
  • Financial Policy
  • Children Policy
  • Donate to a Cause
  • Sponsor a Child
  • Raise Support
  • Book the Choir
  • Contact Us

Intranet

  • Staff Mail
  • Webmaster Intranet
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Go Fund Me
  • Jobs and Careers
© 2022 Country Lights Uganda