Christians Have the Wrong Idea About Faith & Healing
Should followers of Jesus have a healing faith? There seems to be a popular misleading mindset that if you are a Christian, you can and maybe should expect to be healed of your infirmities. That you should seek and are entitled to healing in the present. Perhaps an enlargement of your faith can give you healing? One might get this impression from Christians out there professing:
- Your faith can cure you
- You can pray away your disease or disability
- You need more faith
- Maybe you should seek out an “apostle” who is “anointed” to heal you
As a Christian with a connective tissue disorder that affects my entire body, I would like to respond with “truth in love” to correct the error of following these falsehoods (Ephesians 4:15).
You Could Say I was Born Broken
When I was four years old, my mom entered our living room to witness me watching my beloved Saturday morning cartoons with my whole face pressed against the TV. Immediately she inquired, “Why are you doing that?” My response was simple: “So I can see my cartoons!”
Soon thereafter, my mom began a dogged quest shuttling me to every local optometrist in the Greater-Houston area.
Each appointment would begin with a doctor doing all the tests, where they would inevitably stop to ask permission to bring in the other doctors in the office for “a look.” Then after all the pressure check puffs, dilation drops, and head scratching the doctors would sadly say:
“She is going blind. We cannot help her.”
While my mom left each appointment feeling defeated, I gladly consumed yet another end-of-visit lollipop donning a new pair of the ever so trendy rectangular makeshift foldable sunglasses.
Until one day at the Med Center downtown (which is the big leagues) we met a brave ophthalmologist who said, “She will go blind…But I think we can help her.” She courageously took on my case, and for the rest of my childhood, Dr. Hittner became my trusted doctor that gave me hope. Even though she had never treated a patient like me, she did all she could to help me see.
I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight my mom’s perseverance in getting me the best care. She is a prime example of a mother who will not accept less than the best when it concerns her daughter’s care and future. She still makes sure that I am seeing only, “the best doctor” that I can.
Now, I have the same honor of caring for my own girls.
Is a DNA Mutation a Part of God’s Plan?
In my twenties, my left eye lens subluxated (dropped), causing blindness in that eye. It was not until 10 surgeries for both eyes plus one nasty infection that I finally learned what it is that I have: Autosomal Recessive Ectopia Lentis et Pupillae (fancy speak for: dislocated lenses).
This is a very rare connective tissue disorder caused by a mutation on the ADAM TSL4 gene. Too rare for a proper name- ELEP only describes the effects. It presents mostly in the eyes, hence the name of this column: Googly Eyed Gospel. In my particular wonky case, it has also wreaked havoc on other areas such as my hips and spine.
For myself, a connective tissue disorder is this: I was made with the lowest budget glue, not the premium stuff.
At 43, I am recovering from a spinal lumbar fusion (L5), my latest of 17 surgeries. This has been the hardest recovery so far, with a new complication that has surfaced causing great pain and more decrease in mobility.
God created the mechanism of DNA, the very coding language of humanity. He, The Creator, is most certainly involved in our creation as we find in these verses:
God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. – New International Version, Gen. 1:27
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. – Psalm 139:13
Did God Mess Up in Creating Me?
NO! I believe that this mutation is a consequence of the fallen world with an algae-filled gene pool. I believe that God is infallible, cannot make mistakes, or else He would not be God.
Is Sickness, Disease, or Suffering a Part of God’s Plan?
Given God’s sovereignty and omniscience, the short answer is yes. However, this question is as layered as a wedding cake, so let’s see what Jesus has to say about a similar issue:
“His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him ( John 9:2-3).”
The blindness, the mutation, the disease, the suffering: “happened so that the works of God might be displayed.”
You see, the Word says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” It does not say “some” but “all” things.
Christians, we must trust and base our life on God’s Word! A great example of this was Alisa Childers’ Interview with Rebekah Howe (a fellow Connective Tissue Disordered Christian).
No, God did not create evil.
But He permits the foreseen broken parts of the fallen world to be a part of the plan: SO HE CAN MAKE THEM GOOD. Redemption. God is our Redeemer! He gets to make the hard mean something else other than the pain and the suffering they cause His beloved Creation.
We see this in my all-time favorite verse where Joseph is talking to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Gen. 50:20).”
Brothers and Sisters, let us consider two options when it comes to pain and sickness. I will offer you the premise that both options are a victory!
Option 1 – Physical Healing on Earth
In the aforementioned blind man’s case, Jesus ended up restoring his sight (see John 9). This is one result that can display the works of God: physical healing here on Earth. Note also that he was “born blind,” perhaps a genetic mutation or deletion meaning that Jesus has the power to cure DNA malfunctions.
We see many examples where Jesus healed His hurting creation in Scripture. Many people, both non-believers and believers experience healing, sometimes even overnight!
I believe that if God wanted to alter my DNA, then He could do it without question.
After my 8th surgery in my left eye, I finally had my sight restored. It is not perfect, but I can see. My right eye only needed two surgeries to become stable. I thank God for my sight continuously. Yes, I am living proof that God can and does heal people!
Option 2 – Unhealed on Earth
We know and trust that God is a God of higher ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), and there are other instances where a physical healing does not happen and yet, still the works and glory of the Lord are displayed.
Stop right now.
Do you believe that your pain is a part of God’s higher ways? Or do you feel entitled to a healing on this side of Heaven?
Many well-intentioned Christian brothers and sisters believe that we are owed a physical healing, even using prayer as a way to “claim” God’s power over their sickness.
I can see verses that seem to support this, but when you look at the entirety of Scripture, the history of the saints who came before us in the church, or to a faith-filled loved one who lost their battle with a disease and graduated into Heaven, another option presents itself that we as believers must face.
God may not heal you on this side, but His “grace is sufficient.”
His power is not less because your condition causes you to feel less. No, no, quite the opposite!
Beloved believer, hear this:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
With worldly eyes, the second option is not ideal, but it is no less God ordained. And God guarantees us in His Word, that: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
If you are hurting, trust this: He is near you, and you are strong!
2 Corinthians 12:10 tells us, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
But there is a third option…
Actually, it is more certain than the word, ‘option,’ allows.
The Ultimate Option- Healed Forever
Please forgive my 80’s-child heart. My generation has a special regard for anything: “ultimate.”
Remember, that as children of God, Jesus beat death by His resurrection. So we who believe are free and healed forever! Maybe not on this side of Heaven but for ALL ETERNITY!
If you are in Christ, then you are healed. Spiritually first. As in our sin debt is paid by the blood of Christ who rose again.
And once we die physically, we are raised to life with Him to eternal life.
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-13).
Absolutely we should pray, but we should do so to be in alignment with God’s will, and His plan first.
What About the Christians Who Are Not Healed?
I gently present to you, two Christians who show us God’s “higher ways.”
Paul.
This guy begged the Lord “three times” to take away his “thorn” (2 Cor. 12). We have already noted Paul’s word about God’s refusal to take away whatever plagued him, and how he instead praised God for his all sufficient “grace.” We can ponder, what would his witness have been without the thorn?
Jesus.
The Healer did not heal Himself from death until His resurrection. He did not save Himself from the beatings and suffering. If He had, then the prophecies would not have been fulfilled, and the good news would not exist! “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
Given God’s Word, we know that Paul and Jesus were most certainly healed for all time.
So you see, an “unhealed Christian” is actually an oxymoron.
What about the Christians who are not healed? There are none.
Let us not be lost looking for healing, when we are found in God’s all sufficient grace.
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