AMA: How Should Christians View Modern Medicine? - Pastor David Houck | May 3, 2026

How should Christians view modern medicine? In this 'Ask Me Anything' message, Pastor David examines what the Bible has to say about the cause of illness, the source of healing, and the Christian's responsibility to care for their physical health.

Transcript

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Today we are starting the Ask Me Anything series or picking up the Ask Me Anything series. And today's question that was given to us is how should Christians view modern medicine? And the topic of modern medicine, um, vaccinations, treatments, healthcare, uh, physicians, all these things have become a pretty hot topic issue, especially just within the past um few years, especially since the pandemic. Um, but it it is a very um divisive issue. It is a divisive issue in our nation, and that division exists for better or for worse uh in our church as well. So I thought this question was really interesting of how should Christians view modern medicine? Now, you know, I'll tell you, and this goes with a lot of different questions that we get. There's certain topics that the Bible doesn't just explicitly say one thing regarding it. Um, and so you might be pleased or you might be disappointed to hear that I'm not necessarily going to give a very straightforward answer one side or the other, because I mean, I certainly could twist scripture to um conform to my own opinion and my own view, but I don't feel that that is being faithful to what the role that I've been called to. Um, and so essentially we're going to kind of look at the principles that can help each of us inform our own decisions uh and conclusions. And uh I've included a lot of scripture so you can understand where I'm coming from, and so that you can go home. And my encouragement is always go home, open up your Bible, read it for yourself. Fact check me, check to see if what I'm saying is true, if it is within the context of scripture. Um, and if you decide, if you go home and you decide, hey, he's totally off his rocker, um, then I invite you to come back next week, meet together as a church and decide whether or not you want to put me out of my misery. I mean ministry. Um totally able to do that. Um I would also ask something of you to put on your thinking caps this morning and to try to listen carefully to what I'm saying, um, because something that can happen with these messages is sometimes people will leave hearing something that I didn't actually say. And so I want to encourage you to try to listen carefully. And in our connection time service, um, 15 minutes following our main service, we added a QA section. So if you hear something and you're not quite sure what I meant, or you heard something and it kind of bothered you, or you didn't think it's quite right, then I would encourage you, rather than storm out angrily, um, just stay and ask. And hopefully uh we might be able to clear up whatever your question is. But so let's get to um the question. I feel it's necessary to first address the cause of illness. What is the cause of illness? And first of all, all illness exists because of humanity's fall into sin. This is true of all pain, all suffering, all illness, and all death. It is the consequence of sin in the world. Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God, gave into temptation, and then sin entered the human race and the entire world. And because of that, all of humanity and all of the world fell under a curse. We see this in Genesis chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Um, to the woman, God said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children. And to Adam, he said, Cursed is the ground because of you, in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. God created a perfect universe, a perfect world, there was no pain, there was no suffering, until man decided to choose the way of sin and evil and temptation over the good and perfect will of God. And then we face the consequences of that. And now, before you're quick to place the blame on Adam and Eve, I guarantee you, had the line made it all the way up to you, you would have been the one to do it. And I say that because I would have been the one to do it. So when people ask why is there so much pain and suffering in the world, this is why. It's because of humanity's sin. And Adam and Eve chose to embrace sin over God's perfect will, despite the fact that God warned them that death and destruction would follow. So all illness in a general sense exists because of humanity's sin. Secondly, and again, I want you to listen to me very carefully, some illnesses may have spiritual dimensions. It would be unbiblical for me to say that there's never a spiritual component or contributor to illness or pain or disease, because there are many examples throughout scripture that it can be a contributing factor. Sometimes pain and illness can be the result of our sin. We see this happen with King David. After he tried, or while he tried to conceal his sin of his affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, he experienced physical, emotional, and mental pain and suffering. In Psalm chapter 32, verses 3 and 4, he wrote about it. He said, For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. There was illness, there was pain, there was bodily weakness because of the guilt and the shame that ate away at him. I won't ask for a show of hands, but has anyone ever experienced that in your own life? Trying to hide something, trying to conceal something, not dealing with a conflict, not dealing with uh some sort of sin in your life, and it eats away at you. And it can lead to physical illness and sickness. So, as Christians, we cannot deny that fact. There are also instances in Scripture of illness and disease being a result of God's wrath or even God's loving discipline. This happened to the Corinthian church. Paul said, For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. Now, I've said this in past when we talked about communion. I have a lot of follow-up questions about this, but unfortunately, we're not really given any other answers to it. But apparently, what we can take away from this is that the issue of purity and unity in the early church especially was so serious to God that believers who disobeyed it would come under his discipline, which entailed illness and even death. That seems pretty extreme to us, but we have to remember everything the early church was a foundation of what we would know and believe now. And so God had incredibly high standards for them. And we also know that God disciplines those whom he loves, he is a loving father, and like a loving father, he disciplines his children not as a form of punishment, but as a way to bring them back on track. And so if it happened to the Corinthian church then, I can't say for sure that it can't happen now. It very well could. Because, number three, most illnesses have ordinary physical causes. Now, my recommendation to you as a pastor, and I say this because I've developed a system of my own, especially when it comes to times of feeling depression or anxiety. I have this checklist in my mind, this sort of spiritual inventory that I take. And if you want to know about it, I'll answer in connection time so you can stick around for that. But I encourage you to do this to any time you're experiencing depression, anxiety, anger, uh, um, or any type of physical illness that that is unexpected or unexplained, to do the work, to look within you and to ask the questions Am I right with God? How is my spiritual life? Is there sin in my life that hasn't been addressed? I would encourage you to do that. But it is not our place to do that for others. We don't want to be like Job's friends. The Old Testament, there's a story of a man named Job. Satan tested him, tested his faith in God by inflicting all these tragedies and uh infirmities and all these horrible things upon him. Job's friends came along, and they all argued, well, clearly God is upset with you. Clearly, you've done something to upset God. Otherwise, why would you face this? And this idea persisted not only to today, but it it persisted in the time of Jesus. It was a common Jewish belief that if someone had illness, pain, suffering, if someone was poor, whatever, it was a result of God's displeasure in them. That God is displeased, that God was angry, and they had sin in their life. So Jesus addressed this with his followers. Luke chapter 9 says, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. The natural assumption of Jesus' disciples was that this man was born blind either because of a sin his parents committed or a sin that he committed, which is kind of an interesting notion considering he was born blind. So why would it be as a result of that? But Jesus says it has nothing to do with that. He was born blind under God's sovereign will, so that a mighty work of God might be displayed through him, and it was when Jesus restored his sight. And a few chapters later, Jesus once again addressed the misconception that bad things happen only to bad people as a result of God's judgment. Luke chapter 13, verses 1 through 5. There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Oftentimes, tragedies, accidents, disasters, disease are just the result of living in a broken, fallen world. Not because of any one individual's particular sin. We are all sinners. If good things only happen to good people and bad things only happen to bad people, then none of us would ever experience good things. It would only be bad things. So I would encourage you to examine your spiritual life. But I tell you that you can examine your spiritual life on your way to the doctor. Alright? And when it comes to someone else, don't try to play Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit do its work and leave it in their hands. Now let's look at the source of healing. We looked at the cause of illness. What is the source of healing? First and foremost, we need to understand that all healing is ultimately from God. It is ultimately from God. We will examine different methods that God may use to heal, but it's all from Him. All good things come from God. James wrote in chapter 1, verse 17: every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. God is the source of life, and he is the sustainer of life. So no matter what earthly explanation there might be, every healing and recovery is ultimately by the grace of God, by his sustaining power, and by his will. And as such, regardless of how we're healed, we should always give thanks to God for our healing. No God, no healing. That's how it works. Secondly, how does he do this? Well, God can heal through the natural process of his design. Now, I am not intelligent enough, and you all know I'm not intelligent enough to explain all the intricacies of how the human body works and how it is designed. But it's undeniable the fact that it is incredible how the body is able to recover and heal from illness and injury on its own. We have immune systems, we have white blood cells, we have everything else that I'm not smart enough to understand. Our bodies were created by God to heal and to recover on our own. That isn't by accident. That isn't outside of God's will. It's a sign of God's loving grace for all of humanity. I mean, he always knew before man was created, he knew we would fall into sin. And he knew we would fall into the curse of death and decay. And rather than just let us suffer from it completely, he said, No, I'm gonna build into your system a way to heal and recover when the inevitable happens, when you get sick, when you get injured. It's beautiful. Psalm chapter 139, verses 13 and 14 says, For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Every time our body does its thing, every time our body heals and recovers, it is because it is following God's design to heal a wound or overcome our sickness or even keep us healthy in a season of illness. And we should praise God for his design. Third, God can heal supernaturally according to his will. God can and has healed people miraculously, supernaturally, many times, meaning he's healed people in a way that is beyond human expectation or understanding. This can happen in the Old Testament, uh, it has happened in the Old Testament at times, and this is a primary aspect of Jesus' ministry. Matthew chapter 9, verse 35 says, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. What was the purpose of Jesus' healing ministry? Why did Jesus heal? Why did he go around these places? Was it because as some claim God wants to give everyone health and wealth? No. Jesus performed these healings and all his other signs and wonders to confirm to the people that he was who he said he was, that he was indeed the Son of God, and that his message was true. And then he gave these gifts over to the apostles, these men responsible for spreading Jesus' message to the world, responsible for authoring scripture, and for serving as the foundation of the church. Mark chapter 16, verse 20 says, And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. Here again, we see the purpose of these healings and these signs and these wonders. It was to confirm their message. The message was hey, Jesus, that man you crucified, was the Son of God. We saw him alive and well. We spent 40 days with him. Don't believe us? He gave us some of his power. They would perform miracles, signs, wonders, speak in tongues, give prophecy, and heal people. Now it is our firm belief here that these miraculous gifts and these gifts of healing belonged only to the apostles and those who were closely associated with the apostles in the earliest years of the church movement. In fact, that has been the stance, largely, of all of the church since the time of Jesus up until the modern charismatic movement. That has always been the position. It's that these gifts were given to these specific men to allow people to differentiate between the true messengers of Christ and the false teachers of the day. And these healings weren't minor acts here and there, they were happening in large numbers. Acts chapter 12, Acts chapter 5 says, Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. I have a dry throat because of sin in my life. So the church movement starts out with these miraculous healings in multitudes. But when you read through the New Testament chronologically, you'll see that these healings, these miraculous gifts, are mentioned less and less to the point that they're not mentioned at all. Why? Because they didn't exist anymore. The purpose for using them was done, it was complete. We'll see later on that apostles and church leaders were ill and there was no healing. There isn't even the mention of miraculous healing. Now, since the birth of the charismatic movement, there have arisen many people who claim to still possess these gifts and claim to still have the gift to heal. We do not believe that those. Are true statements. If it were true, then they should be able to do what the apostles did here, which is walk down the street, and if their shadow falls upon you, they are healed. Or they should go to the children's hospital, walk up and down the halls, and clear the place out. But no one does that. Why? Because it's not real. In fact, most of them are just hiding in their film studio or their church, and they're saying, if you have enough faith, I will heal you, but you have to give me money first. It's not real. It's a lie. Now, does this mean that miraculous healings don't happen today? No, not at all. God can and will and does heal people and perform supernatural miracles even today. But that's according to his will. People don't possess those gifts. That is God working. Are we clear on that? People don't possess those gifts. They're false teachers, they're often doing it for shameful gain, and there is no biblical support or evidence for it. So then what does that leave us with? Well, God can heal through medicine and wise care. The extremists out there who claim that all illness and injury can be healed simply through faith, without need of medical intervention, have to contend with all of the medicines and medical practices that are found in Scripture. I mean, if that were the case, if it only took faith to heal, then why did God provide so many laws and commands concerning hygiene and infectious disease to ancient Israel? Leviticus chapter 13 and 14, you can look into it on your own. They contain incredibly detailed instructions for how to diagnose and treat various cases of leprosy, how to cleanse homes from infectious mold and bacteria, and other very detailed instructions. We see several medical practices and remedies throughout the Bible. Isaiah chapter 38, verse 21, for an example. Now Isaiah had said, let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil that he might recover. That was an ancient medical practice. There are several references in scripture to the balm of Gilead, which was a resin with medicinal properties. When Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, uh caring for the traveler who had been robbed and beaten, he said he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Jesus was coming up the story, coming up with the story. He was inventing it. And he didn't say the Samaritan went up to him and placed his hand upon him and healed him in faith. No, he says he poured on oil, which was used to soothe, and wine, which was used as an antiseptic. This was the modern medicine of the time. All precursors to medicine that we have today. Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke, and the author of the book of Acts, a close companion of Paul, was a doctor. And not like he was a doctor before, but he still was a doctor. Paul refers to him as Luke, the beloved physician, in his letter to the Colossians. So already there goes the claim of some that all uh uh physicians, all doctors are voodoo, you know, pagan sorcerers, because clearly that's not true. And then we see the Apostle Paul's personal instructions to Timothy later on in his life, when he said, No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. It appears that Timothy, for one reason or another, had chosen to completely abstain from alcohol, but he was suffering from the health consequences of drinking polluted and contaminated water. So, decades, this is near closer to the end of Paul's life, decades after the early church movement, rather than pray a prayer of healing or command the illness to depart in Jesus' name, Paul gave him the same practical instructions that a doctor would have. Add some wine to your diet. The alcohol content would help kill the pathogens. Another sign, once again, that they were not using the gifts of healing at this point. So, medicine, doctors, and medical practices are not outside of God's will. They are not a lack of faith, they are not evil pagan practices, they're simply one way God may choose to heal someone. Some of you know, I share it every now and then. May is uh mental health awareness month, I think, so it's kind of appropriate. Um, well, if you ever want a um a long, interesting read that'll keep you busy for a couple hours, I'll give you my list of diagnoses that I have. Um, but the the the two primary ones, um, I I have a um form of bipolar depression, and I also have type 1 diabetes. As a side note, both greatly misunderstood. Um, I didn't give myself type 1 diabetes by eating sugar. Um, also, someone who has poor impulse control and is really moody, that's not bipolar depression at all. Just a side note. Um, but both of those conditions require medication. They cannot be healed on their own. Both of those illnesses, whatever you want to refer to them as, are a result of a physical imbalance or lack of something in my body. In different ways, without those medications, I would not survive. Take away my insulin and my diabetic supplies. My time is very limited, I will die. There's no amount of exercise or dieting that I can do, it will kill me. Take away my bipolar medication. Unfortunately, I can say I likely will not survive either for different reasons. I need medication. And I am so grateful to live in a time where we have grown so advanced in our medical knowledge, our understanding of how God created us and how God created the resources of the earth in order to treat conditions like these. It is a gift from God. So where's the problem? Well, that leads us to the corruption of good. The corruption of good. God is the creator of man, of the world, of the universe, and everything in it. And when you read through the creation story in the beginning of Genesis, every time he created something, he called it good. Because that's exactly what it is. And that is how we Christians should view all of God's creation. Paul said, for everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. So no object, no invention, no thing is inherently evil. As a side note, there's absolutely no biblical evidence or basis for the belief that demons can somehow possess or attach themselves to objects. That is absolutely nowhere in Scripture. That is actually stems from myths and pagan religions, because pagan religions will say that an object could contain or be possessed by gods and spirits. It's not a Christian concept. In fact, Paul referred to this when writing about idols in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 4. He said, Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no God but one. A material object does not contain anything. A material object cannot be evil because it cannot contain an evil spirit. Okay? So nothing is inherently evil. He said the food offered to idols is just food. Idols themselves are just objects. The issue is not the item itself, but the use of it. Which leads us to this Satan cannot create, he can only corrupt. Satan cannot create anything. He does not have that power. He is not nearly on the same level as God. The power of creation is God's alone. All medication, all invention is sourced from God's creation. Satan is not sitting in a lab somewhere creating medications for big pharma, all right? But Satan can corrupt things. And not by corrupting the thing itself, but by corrupting the use of it. This is true of all discovery and invention. God has given us the intelligence, the material, and the understanding to create everything we have ever created for good. Satan will twist it for evil. Planes brought the world together, helped spread the gospel. 9-11 and Pearl Harbor showed how they can be used for evil. Guns can be used to feed people, they can also be used to murder. The internet has brought many good things to the world. It's also served as a platform for human depravity. Pain medication is great for those who are recovering from an injury or an operation. But Satan and our own sinful desire has corrupted this good thing by leading people to abuse it. Satan can twist things, not the item itself, but our use for it. A major concern for those who oppose certain forms of modern medication or any sort of medical practices is about the corruption of pharmaceutical companies. Yes, absolutely, pharmaceutical pharmaceutical companies are greedy and corrupt. Just look at the price of diabetic supplies. People need it to live and they go into debt trying to get it. That being said, everyone is greedy and corrupt, myself included. To try to avoid greed and corruption entirely would mean you have to leave the planet and then you still have to deal with yourself. It's impossible as long as we are here. Those concerns may be valid. They are valid, and there probably is needed reform, but I would caution against throwing out the baby with the bath water. Some object to certain medications and medical practices due to the potential dangers or side effects involved. That is also a very valid concern. That should always be something that should be discussed and considered. Should talk about your doctor, you should weigh the pros and cons. My meds, some of them have horrible side effects. The pro is that I live. The con is that I feel sick sometimes. So I made the decision to go with the pro, survival, over the potential cons. All right. Because the truth is it's never going to be perfect. No human medication is ever going to be perfect. So that's an individual choice. And that depends on anything that you are examining. But God has given us these means to help sustain, to help provide a better life, to help heal, to help recover. Now, I have also heard Christians reject pharmaceuticals, especially medicines like antidepressants, because of one Greek word. That Greek word is pharmakaea. Some of you might find this interesting, others of you will re-listen to this message to cure your insomnia. But the root of this word led to the English terms pharmacy, pharmaceuticals, pharmacists, and the meaning of it is quite similar to what we would call drugs. But in our Bibles, we often see this translated as sorcery. As an example, Galatians chapter 5, 19 and 20 says the works of flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and sorcery. When we see this word in scripture, it's used in the negative context. It's a condemnation of this use of pharmacia. So some have interpreted it as saying that all drug, any sort of pharmaceutical, is sin. But as always, context matters. In English, we have different terms to categorize different forms of drugs. We have illicit drugs and we have prescription drugs. We have over-the-counter medicine and we have poison. We have pharmacists and we have drug dealers. They're not the same. But in ancient Greek, it was one word that could be used to describe any and all of it. So to understand what the author meant, you needed to understand the context. Most of the time, and this verse is an example, most of the time, when this word is used, it is closely associated with idolatry and sexual immorality. And that's not by mistake. The reason being that many of the pagan religions of the time revolved around idols, sexual acts, and the abuse of drugs and potions, whether to alter one's own state of mind through recreational use, or to use it as a poison to manipulate and control others. That is the context of what he is saying. It is not a general statement over all pharmicaea. It is about the abuse of it, especially in pagan religious practices. It's a condemnation of Satan's corruption of God's good creation for evil purposes, not a condemnation of every category of drug use altogether. So having examined all of that, the most concise answer I can currently give is this. Christians are called to steward their health, trust God's will, act according to their conscience, and not quarrel over opinions. That might not be as cut and dry as some people were looking for, especially if you wanted me to come out uh one way or the other. But since the Bible does not provide clear instructions regarding the usage of medication, the best I can do is provide some general principles. First of all, Christians are absolutely called to steward our health. Bodies are temporary, they're corrupted, they are under the curse of sin and death and decay, but they're the best we've got right now. And they're a gift from God. And God expects us to view our bodies as a gift from God and to take care of them. Our purpose as Christians is to adorn the gospel of Christ in every aspect of our lives. That when an outsider looks at our lives, no matter what category of our life they see, they see someone who has been changed and desires to glorify and honor Jesus. So that's finances, that's your speech, that's how you dress, that's your how you work, that's your relationships with others, and it is your physical health as well. The truth is we as Christians should be the standard for healthy living. Not in terms of the fact that we don't have any disability or illness, because that's inevitable, but in the terms of habit, diet, fitness, activity level. We should be seeking to adorn the gospel of Christ with how we take care of our bodies. We don't do that very well. Most of us. I include myself in that. I got McDonald's at 11 p.m. last night. All right. So I understand I'm working on it too. But we need to take care of our bodies. To do less than that is sin. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, all things are lawful for me. He's quoting that people would say, All things are lawful for me. Said, yes, but not all things are helpful. They'd say, All things are lawful for me. He said, But I will not be dominated by anything. And he goes on to say, flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. Glorify God in your body. He says that while nothing is unclean and we are spiritually free to eat and drink whatever we'd like, not everything is healthy, not everything is good for us. And then he transitions to sexual immorality, arguing that sexual sins are different from other sins and that they damage our own bodies. And there are many ways that this happens, but certainly he is also thinking of the physical consequences. I mean, sexually transmitted diseases were so prevalent in that day and time and that region. He says, You're damaging your own body. God himself dwells within us. And we've been bought by the blood of Christ. We've been bought with a price. So we need to treat our bodies as such. And we are to trust God. At the end of the day, our trust as believers should be first and foremost in God and in his sovereign power. Regardless of your opinion on medicine or doctors or whatever, our first response should always be to pray and ask God for healing. Because if we have been given access to that, why wouldn't we use it? And we know that all healing comes from him anyways, regardless of how he does it. James wrote, Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Don't get up hung up on the whole oil aspect. It's it's symbolic or even metaphoric. He's just speaking about the power of prayer and especially the power of a community of believers praying. Why wouldn't we want to ask God for his healing power if it all comes through him, anyways? Now, this also isn't a guarantee that he will always heal. This is a general principle, not a promise. Because sometimes God will not heal. We've got a question a while ago that was why does God heal some people and not others? Because that's his will. I can't explain it any further than that, other than to say it is God's will to heal some and not to heal others. Now none of us deserve any healing whatsoever, but just by God's grace for all of humanity, sinners and saints alike, he offers healing to some. To others, he doesn't. Again, there are false preachers who say that faith in God and faith in them will grant everyone health and wealth here on earth. That isn't true. The idea that I lean towards, and many people lean towards, is that he was referring to a loss of eyesight. Because there are many uh examples, there are many pieces of evidence in scripture that as he got older, he was losing his eyesight. And so a lot of people think that perhaps that was it. Maybe it was some other physical concern. We don't know. Either way, he asked God to take it away from him. He wrote, Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Three times he begged God to take away this difficulty, and God's answer was no. Why? Because ultimately the weakness of Paul would bring glory to God. How does that happen? Well, again, this is in a time and day when everyone associates bad things happen only to bad people. And so here you have this guy, probably so many physical uh disabilities and uh and wounds and scars from all the torturing that he experienced, and then he is losing his eyesight. He needs people to guide him everywhere he goes. People look at that, they have pity on him, and then he preaches. Or then he writes, he speaks about the truths of God, and people say, wow, God really must be working in him. The same thing can happen to us. I've not been healed. I haven't. Truth of the matter is, is um I am in pain, some sort of pain, uh, every single day of my life. Some sort of pain, some sort of illness. Um, I never feel good. Uh I am always sick. I am chronically um fatigued. That is the state that I live in. Um I don't say that because I want pity. In fact, I don't want your pity at all because the truth is, and I'm not gonna look at anyone, but I pity many of you because you come in moaning and groaning and complaining about every small minor inconvenience in life. You never have any joy or peace or gratitude, no matter how God has blessed you. K can attest to this. I really don't complain about my illnesses, about my difficulties very often. I don't. I'm grateful. I've been given the means that I need to survive. And God uses it for his good. I mean, I can counsel so many people who are dealing with depression or anxiety, and I can genuinely say I've been there. Now, I don't exactly know why I was also given the diabetes. I feel like you know that the one was enough, but that's how it goes. Grumbling and complaining isn't gonna change anything. And God is still above and beyond good to me. This can be a hard truth to grasp, but for those of us who are believers, we trust God in this Romans 8.28, and we know that for those who love God and love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. We know, regardless of how hard it might be now, God has a purpose for it, and he will redeem it for good for those who love him. This trust we have should overpower any and all fear that we have. And here's the truth: there's a lot of fear mongering on both sides of the issue. Whether you want to take every sort of medication and inoculation that there is, or whether you are against it all, both sides, there's lots of fear mongering. They want you to make you live in fear so that you live according to their opinion and lifestyle. Christians are not called to live in fear. He gave us what we need to rise above the fear. 2 Timothy 1.7, for God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Christians, don't make your decisions out of fear. We've been freed from that. But that also doesn't mean we live recklessly. Rather, we inform our decisions through wisdom and discernment. And fortunately, God offers that to us as well. James chapter 1, verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to you. So we understand, regardless of what our opinion may be, we have to care for our bodies and place our trust in God. And as long as those two things are in place, the decision is ultimately yours. The early church was just as divided on opinions as we are today. So Paul addressed this. He said, as for one who is weak in the faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. One person esteems one day is better than the other, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. In other words, as long as you are sound in doctrine, as long as the main things are the plain things to you, as long as you understand the gospel truth and who Jesus is, then it is okay to have differing opinions. And that's partly because each person's conscience may guide them to different conclusions. The Holy Spirit works with your conscience in order to show you what is right and convict you of what is wrong. But your conscience can also be informed by your background, your history, your upbringing, whatever it may be. And so one person's conscience might guide them in a different way than someone else's. Just listen to it, because it is a dangerous thing for Christians to make a habit of going against their conscience. Because then when it is something that really matters, you might not listen to it. We should each be convinced in our own mind. As an example, alcohol use. Two believers' consciences may differ, and that's okay. Christians are free to drink alcohol, but because of some people's upbringing or some people's history, they decide not to. Others decide that they can in moderation. Let each be convinced in their own mind. But we also must be careful not to cause an issue for other believers. Because Paul goes on to say, therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean to anyone who thinks it is unclean. To use the example of alcohol again, your conscience might say to you that it's fine if you drink alcohol, but you shouldn't consume alcohol in front of the believer who doesn't. You're free to do what you want, but not at the expense of the faith of someone else. So, how does this apply to one's view on medicine? How do we make sure we don't create a stumbling block here? Quite simply, shut up. Shut up about it. You don't want to create a stumbling block for another believer? Don't talk about it. I mean, there is no need to talk about your opinion of vaccines, big pharma, Tylenol, health care, unless you are actually a healthcare professional, they don't need to hear it. You make your own decision, they make their own, and be okay with that. Because oftentimes nothing good comes from it, anyways. Let every person in every family make their own informed decision and act according to their conscience and don't pass judgment on one another any longer. If there's anything I have learned in the past six months, it's that people have a lot of opinions on parenting and they are dying to share them with you. It causes division, judgment, shame, and it is just so unnecessary. The world would be a much better place if we heeded Paul's instructions. Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs. Imagine that. Mind your own business is a command from the Lord. Take care of the body God has given you. Trust His will. Ask God for wisdom. Follow your conscience and mind your own business. Because while these issues may seem major now, and yes, they can entail life or death, in the grand scheme of eternity, they mean nothing. God's not going to be checking your vaccination records in heaven. He's also not going to kick you out because you wear masks and take Tylenol, right? It won't matter there. Your mansion, God, I guarantee if you're anti-vaxx, your mansion is going to be placed next to someone who works for the company of making vaccines, all right? That's how it goes. Which is this only Jesus offers true eternal healing. Everyone around you, everyone around you is an eternal soul destined for hell unless they accept the free gift of grace that Christ bought through his sacrifice and resurrection. That's first things first. First things first, we are on a rescue mission. Not to convince people of our own political views or views on any of this garbage that won't matter in eternity. Don't create a stumbling block. Don't damage your testimony because you're too busy going on airing your ignorant opinions. And that means all of us, because we're all ignorant. And we offend people unnecessarily about minor things so that they don't hear us on the major things. So I'll just take a step back. Take a breath and look at the big picture. There may or may not be healing now. When healing happens, it may or may not be through medication. But the only healing that truly matters is the one Christ offers us healing of the soul, a cleansing of one's sins, and the declaration of innocence before God. And we also look forward to the day when Christ returns and our bodies will finally match our redeemed souls and be perfect and flawless for all of eternity. Paul wrote, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house made, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. I'm looking forward to that day. Are you? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word. Lord, as Christians, we shouldn't um we don't want to be dogmatic about the minor issues. We want to keep first things first. So I pray that you would um keep those first things on our hearts and in our minds, that we would prioritize them over the minor things. But when it comes to the minor things, Lord, even if scripture isn't necessarily explicit about everything, we know that your truth can guide us in every and all decision we ever make. So we pray for your wisdom, we pray for your guidance, and we pray for the self control to just mind our own business. Lord, may we be a church that doesn't get divided over the minor things, but instead preaches the gospel so that people experience the true healing that matters. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.