With most medicines, there are side effects. Some cause drowsiness behind the wheel, some cause anxiety, and some cause a whole array of problems including death. Those are pretty serious things to watch for. There’s something else that is even more serious than physical ailments and death, and that’s spiritual death.

Proverbs chapter 4 talks about God’s words being “life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.”  In John 6, Jesus says that His words are Spirit and life.  In fact, cover to cover, the Bible says that life is to be found only in God. His words and His Spirit convey that power.

This sermon isn’t telling you to deny doctors and pharmacies, and just pray that something will happen. Yes, pray. Pray first about everything. God can and still does miraculously heal people. God is the true provider, but God also provides us with minds and talents, such as those needed by surgeons and pharmacists. You will know that those talents are from God when they benefit the rest of His children. In short, if your body is sick, pray about it, then go to a doctor that God has provided. 

There are times when our bodies are sick, but there is a constancy to our lives that shows we are sick with a different type of ailment: sin. For the history of humankind, there has been sin; Pride, anger, and inappropriate desires of all kinds. We were created for so much better circumstances than what we put ourselves into, and when we go those places, we are moving away from our Creator. We’re moving our own souls away from the source of its health and strength. 

Much like a tree branch, when you cut it away from the tree itself, it gets sick and dies away because it can’t feed. It doesn’t get the nutrients and the essential lifeblood of the tree it came from. When we are separated from God, we no longer receive his lifeblood. We are no longer connected to the tree of life for our souls.

What happens? We get sick from this world, so we try to feed upon other medicines to heal our souls. However, we soon find that we can’t get enough to quench ourselves. In short, there’s never enough booze, drugs, sex, or anything that can fill the hole within us. That hole was made when we left our true source. It’s a God-sized hole and only God can fill it.

God sees your ailments. He sees your struggles and your pains, so He comes to meet us right where we are. Jesus Christ: born of a virgin and lived the sinless life that we cannot, but He suffered and died upon the cross to take the punishment for our sins that we deserve. 

You and I are sick from sin. Jesus is the cure.

The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we are plugged into His Spirit and power. It’s like a blood transfusion, trading our sickness for God’s peace and joy. Psalms chapter 107 states that God saves us our distresses and healed us, delivering us from our destructions. Isaiah 53 says that Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was instead upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

The Bible is filled with the connection of soulful turmoil and God’s prescription for healing. The peace His Holy Spirit gives us is what we need for our spiritual disease. It’s right there in the word: Dis – Ease. With Jesus, you will be dragged (kicking and screaming in some cases) from the life of sin and death, and placed into a life of peace. Not like the world gives, says the Bible, but a lasting peace that surpasses all understanding.

What Christ pours into our lives is a deep, God-given peace. It’s an inner calmness that challenges explanation and guards our hearts, even when the world around us is in turmoil. His walk with us and presence in our lives anchors us so firmly that joy rises even in seasons of sorrow, and love abounds even in the face of hatred. When we are rooted in faith and prayer, that daily walk with Jesus not only lifts ourselves, but its palpable by those around us. They can see the difference in our lives. They can feel it. Some people will be repelled by it, since their own sinful lives fight against it, but many people will be drawn to it. They can’t help but question, within the problems and the daily struggles we all face, how can you keep a smile of hope. 

When people notice the change in you, you can smile and tell them, “It’s just the effect of a new remedy I’ve received. His name is Jesus Christ!”

When Christ enters your life, He brings healing, hope, and a joy the world can’t explain. But be warned: His grace has side effects. It stirs up love, it overflows with peace, and it compels you to share Him with everyone around you. Come to Jesus today, and let His transforming power become the testimony others can’t help but notice.

God’s blessings to you.

DH