Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3 John 2
When John penned these words by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he did so to show us that God places your well-being as His priority. He says in this verse that “above all things,” He wants you to be in health. What a straightforward and positive truth.
God wants you to experience His very best, and His best for you includes complete health and well-being.
Complete health means that every organ and system in your body is functioning exactly as God created it to function. Your body is the temple of God, and disease should not be allowed to exist in His home. Therefore, the symptoms of pain and discomfort need to leave your body. And complete well-being means that your mind is strong, and your thoughts are coherent and brilliant. You are sound, stable, and in control. Physical, mental, and emotional health are part of the “abundant life” Jesus said believers would and should experience (John 10:10).
So, how did God make provision for our health? It all happened at the cross. Scripture tells us that at the same time Jesus took our sins, He also took our infirmities, bore our sicknesses, and carried our pains. Isaiah 53:4 says,
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
This is an amazing picture of God’s love toward you and me. Jesus knew the horrors and pain He would experience, yet He still went to the cross. And He did so willingly. He was taunted to come down from the cross, but His love for you and me kept Him up there until He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). When Jesus cried, “finished,” He was actually fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy mentioned above. Matthew 8:17 says,
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
God’s plan for our redemption was complete. He left nothing out. Jesus took all that was wrong and freely gave us everything that is right. On the cross at Calvary, Jesus took our sin; therefore, when we place our faith in Him as Savior and Lord, we freely receive His righteousness. Likewise, on the cross, Jesus took our weaknesses, sicknesses, and pains so that we can receive health from the finished and complete work of the cross! And if He took our sicknesses, we shouldn’t keep them! God’s love for us is the central theme of His Good News. The moment we accept Christ, God has given us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). It only makes sense that this would include physical, mental, and emotional health. Those are some pretty important things that pertain to life and godliness!
