The Harmful Impact Of Sin On Health

Many times throughout the Bible, we have heard the concepts of sin and healing used in conjunction with one another. “Some men brought to Him a paralyzed man…’Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven…Get up, take your mat and go home’” (Holman Rainbow Study Bible Matthew 9: 2, 6 NIV). “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (Psalms 103: 2-3 NIV). “And the prayer offered in faith will make a sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven” (James 5: 15 NIV). These are just a few of many examples. By reading these, it would not be unusual to think that sin and healing are somehow related. What connection is God trying to teach us by repeatedly putting these two concepts together?

In Jesus’ ministry, He focused a lot of His time teaching about the posture of our hearts. He was constantly trying to educate people on the difference between how they physically act verses what they feel in their heart. For example, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13: 3 NIV (in reference to Jesus’ teachings), “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” From the statements such as “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4: 8 NIV) to “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14: 27 NIV), Jesus’ teachings were always trying to help us understand the importance of what we felt in our hearts because it was essential to how “healthy” we would be spiritually…and also physically. 

I know we have spoken about the concept of holding positive emotions in our hearts because it correlates with a healthy body, but it is absolutely essential to understand this concept of how God created us in order to benefit from it. Science has begun to prove that, when we are feeling the positive emotions of love, peace, joy, and gratitude, our body physiologically moves towards healing, increased immune function, and maintenance of health (Dispenza, You are the Placebo 101-102, 115-118 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 44, 164, 167). When we are in a state of negative emotions, then our bodies are headed towards deterioration, moving in the opposite direction of healing, increased immune function, and maintenance of health (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 98-101, 115 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 47, 165-167). There was more behind Jesus telling us to love, for example, then for the pure purpose of loving. He was also telling us that when we love, the mechanisms in our bodies move in the direction of healthiness and longevity. Therefore, keeping love (as well as other positive emotions) in your heart promotes healing.

A great example of this is written in the Bible; “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4: 23 NIV). This passage is not only interesting in regards to establishing God’s reinforcement of the importance of what kinds of feelings we should maintain in our hearts but it alludes to the physiology of how the heart works. From a spiritual perspective, when we are not careful by what we hold in our hearts as far as emotions, it will impact our spiritual lives. However, from a health perspective, if the heart is not properly working, we aren’t able to live optimally, allowing everything to literally “flow” from it such as essential blood and oxygen needed to get to organs. In this verse, God is trying to tell us what science is now proving. That when we keep our hearts in a state of love, peace, joy, and gratitude, it will promote the proper “flow” of outcomes of everything we need in our bodies. He is instructing us that when we keep the emotions associated with positivity in our hearts, the physiologic mechanisms in our heart will “flow” correctly. 

Now that we understand the teachings of Jesus in the area of healing, let’s look at how sin relates to it. In doing this, we need to first establish what sin is. Sin, as most of us know, is something against the will of God. If you were anything like me growing up, you mostly equated sin with a physical action. This is likely related to being raised in accordance with the Ten Commandments. Most of them are based on a physical action (e.g., do not take the name of Lord in vain,  keep the Lord’s Day holy, do not disrespect your parents, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not covet our neighbor’s goods). Hence, attributing sin to a physical action is accurate. However, when Jesus came He informed us of two more commandments, termed “The Two Greatest Commandments,” love the Lord your God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22: 37-39 NIV). We see that, once again, Jesus is instructing us how to keep our hearts. This would lead us to conclude that when we are not feeling love in our hearts, then we are not following Jesus’ commandments. We are sinning based on the way we feel alone. Therefore, sin is not only a physical action but could also be an emotional feeling. 

This makes sense when you think about it. When you recall a “sinful” action that you have ever chosen, it first started in your heart, how you felt about what just happened that was about to influence your follow up response. Before you ever made a physical move (including moving your lips), your thoughts changed and your thoughts changed based on how you were feeling. For example, if we sense we are being verbally attacked, many of us would start to feel anger arise in our hearts, changing our thoughts to use our body in a way that would often physically respond in anger (e.g., screaming, yelling, hitting, etc.). This would justify that the sin was not only the action but also the emotions, and thoughts, that arose to eventually cause the action. 

It says in the Bible, “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12: 2 NIV).  Often times, we look at it as normal or appropriate when we respond, even by thought alone, to certain people or situations in anger, bitterness, resentment, judgement, fear, worry, anxiety, stress, or impatience. We are deemed justified in our negative thoughts/reactions toward someone when they wrong us or towards something when it is unfair. Our society and culture has even taught us that it is acceptable or warranted to hold onto these negative feelings towards people or situations for days or, even, for years. Unfortunately, these become the sins that harm us and lead to illness.

It is understandable that there are times when we can not avoid our knee jerk emotions that happen when we initially hear bad news, feel verbally attacked, see something upsetting, etc. However, it is imperative in maintaining Jesus’ commandments that we do not dwell in or hold these emotions in our heart. This includes negative emotions from past traumas, negative emotions from bad experiences, negative emotions from past resentments, negative emotions from fears, etc. When the feelings become too much, you must “Cast all your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you” (Psalm 55: 22 NIV).  

We must remember that living with these negative emotions are not God’s ways and the ways He wants us to live our lives. He is love. Jesus gifted us the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control) to live by and give to others. When we struggle, He wants us to turn to Him instead of letting these negative feelings fester within us. We can avoid sinning (living in negative emotional states) and, therefore, avoid worsening health. When we live according to Jesus’ teachings, we can “transform” the health of our bodies by “renewing” our minds simply by changing the emotional thoughts within them.

Therefore, we must take every negative thought, generated by worldly standards, captive (2 Corinthians 10: 5 NIV). By not allowing your mind to drift to and dwell on the stresses and negatives in your past or present life, you voluntarily “renew your mind” by focusing on the blessings, the love, and the joy you are living. This will lead you to freedom, happiness, health, and healing!

Hopefully, it is now starting to make more sense as to why healing and sin are often referenced together in the Bible. If we look at sins as not only being physical actions but also as being negative emotional feelings in our hearts, then we must realize that, when we sin, we can not heal our bodies based on their physiologic inability to do so. When Jesus healed people and said their sins were forgiven, He was showing us that the people were healed because they felt God’s love for them and the power of this love was so strong that it overcame and erased their negative emotions. Their sins were forgiven and their bodies were finally able to heal. 

So my prayer for you this week is that you start to recognize the sins/negative emotions that you are keeping in your heart (e.g., the bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, anger, shame, guilt, depression, etc.). I pray you can start to acknowledge how these sins are affecting your health not just spiritually and mentally but physically. I pray that you understand Jesus died so you don’t have to feel in these ways and suffer in your soul or body. I pray that you cast every bit of negativity in your life onto Him! I pray you feel this freedom so you don’t have to be a prisoner to these emotions and live in sin! I pray that, instead of focusing on the negatives surrounding an illness you are facing, you can focus on the gratitude for His presence in your life and for every other blessing He has granted you! And this will HEAL YOUR BODY! YOU WILL BE MEDICATED BY FAITH!

So, LET’S PRAISE HIM!! Thank Jesus for allowing you the choice to live in love and focus on the blessings no matter what the situation in your life or body! Thank Him for forgiving your sins and freeing your heart of the emotional burdens it has been carrying! Thank Him for His peace that sustains you! Thank Him for the ease with which your body systems align when you live in these positive states! Thank Him for the results in your body as you begin to live this way! Thank Him for the way He made you that when you live in His peace, joy, love, and gratitude, you live in freedom from sin! And when you live in freedom from sin, your body gets healed! THANK YOU, JESUS!

Thank you for reading my post! Please come back every week to reread previous information or learn new information as we further expand upon many topics reviewed today and also learn new ways to be Medicated by Faith! There is so much information that I have learned through God’s guidance that He wants me to share with you! We can live in faith through God’s word and, in the process, renew our souls and heal our bodies, leading us to complete health and eternal happiness! 

Please make comments or ask any further questions that you may have below or via email at jill@medicatedbyfaith.com. I promise to respond personally or elaborate on your questions in further posts! God is blessing you! 

References

Pages: 1 2