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Forgiveness of Sin Brings Healing, May 30
A Sound Mind in a Sound Body
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who
forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.
Psalm 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 restora-
tion. 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.”
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