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September 11 The Gift of Healing
The Healer That Teaches
“I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they
knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with
bands of love” (Hosea 11:3, 4).
In the Saviour’s manner of healing there were lessons for His disciples.
On one occasion He anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay,
and bade him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. . . . He went his way
therefore, and washed, and came seeing” (John 9:7). The cure could be
wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ made use
of the simple agencies of nature. While He did not give countenance
to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and natural
remedies.
To many of the afflicted ones who received healing, Christ said,
“Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14). Thus He
taught that disease is the result of violating God’s laws, both natural
and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist did men
but live in harmony with the Creator’s plan. 23
Many act as if health and disease were things entirely independent
of their conduct and entirely outside their control. They do not
reason from cause to effect, and submit to feebleness and disease as a
necessity. Violent attacks of sickness they believe to be special dispensations
of Providence, or the result of some overruling, mastering
power; and they resort to drugs as a cure for the evil. But the drugs
taken to cure the disease weaken the system. 24
No truth does the Bible more clearly teach than that what we do
is the result of what we are. To a great degree the experiences of life
are the fruition of our own thoughts and deeds.
“The curse causeless shall not come” (Proverbs 26:2). 25
We are to learn to talk to the people intelligently and with power.
Then they will call upon Christ, recognizing in Him the One who
came to our world to do the work of healing for soul and body. Those
who are suffering with disease will be aroused to take hold of the
light of health reform. They will leave off their wrong habits, and will
stand in a position where they can reach others. 26
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