Jesus
September 16, 2011 (Friday)
On any given day, the hospitals are filled with people. Illnesses and injuries of many kinds are always being discussed by relatives and friends of those currently affected. In the Bible there were many sick people, but no hospitals. Everywhere Jesus went, he healed people.
Jesus was concerned about physical illness, but he was even more concerned about spiritual illness, about a disease called “sin.” He said, “those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12; Luke 5:32).
The sickness of sin is universal–it affects all of us. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The symptoms are all around us; trouble and pain are everywhere, some of these due to specific bad behavior, but much suffering is due to the fact that the world itself has been affected by the fall of man.
Many people today realize that something is wrong and they are seeking help, but in the wrong places, from the wrong sources. The basic problem of sin can only be healed by the forgiveness of God. It cannot be healed by self-help, be it good or bad.
The “Great Physician” is Jesus. He forgives the sin of all who come to him by faith, accepting his grace. We can never pay for salvation; it is the gift of God. God loved the world so much that he spared not his son, but delivered him up for us all. He died on the cross in our place. He took the penalty of our sins upon himself.
The call from the Lord to a sinful world today is, “Look to me and be saved!” Spiritual healing of your most basic problem can be yours, for “by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2).