Objection: Sickness Is One “Cross” We Must Bear

I felt led to minister on this topic in a certain country, and proceeded to have one of the most productive healing lines I’ve ever had.  I found out later that this “sickness is a cross” doctrine had been running rampant around that country.  Once people found out the truth as I outline it below, the truth set them free and they got healed, many of them instantly.

Whoever says that sickness is one cross we must bear has never taken the time, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11), to look into the Word “to see if these things be so.”  Even a cursory reading of the passages where Jesus said to take up your cross will reveal that He could not possibly have been talking about sickness.  For the sake of completeness, all “cross-references” where Jesus talked about a cross in the life of a believer are listed below.

Luke 14:25-33:
And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 16:24-25:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mark 8:34-35:
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Matthew 10:37-39:
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mark 10:21:
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Luke 9:23-24:
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

From these passages, a few things should be obvious.

First, Jesus never used cross in the plural.  You are to take up your cross (singular).  Therefore, sickness cannot be “one cross you must bear.”  Either sickness is the only cross you must bear, or it is not the cross you must bear.

Second, Jesus said to take up your cross.  It is a voluntary act on your part.  Jesus never said that He or God would lay a cross on you.  In every case above, you choose to pick it up.  A cross therefore cannot be something that falls on you by accident or without your consent, as sickness would.  It certainly cannot be something that God lays on you to bear.  If sickness is your cross, Jesus was saying, “Make yourself sick!”  This would be a strange statement indeed coming from the Person who often healed every sick person in large crowds.

Third, Jesus said that you must take up your cross daily (Luke 9:23 above).  If your cross is sickness, then Jesus said, “Make yourself sick daily!”  Even the most hardened skeptic must admit that He did not mean that.

Fourth, Jesus said to follow Him after taking up your cross.  Sickness cannot be a cross, because it prevents you from following Him, at least from being “fruitful in every good work” (Colossians 1:10).  How can you do the works of Christ when you are in bed needing someone else to do the works of Christ to you so that you can be productive again?

Fifth, there is no mention either here or anywhere else in the Bible that sickness can be a cross.  Religionists who nullify the Word of God with their “traditions of men” came up with this idea of sickness as a cross out of their heads, with no biblical support at all.

Sixth, it is obvious in every passage what the cross you take up is.  It is preferring God’s will for your life to your own will.  It is enduring hardship and persecution for the sake of the gospel.  It is following Christ when it is not convenient or pleasant to do so, in spite of what your family or others say about you.  It is denying yourself to follow your Lord.

Therefore, sickness cannot possibly be a “cross” that you must bear!  I think I’ve gotten my point across enough for you to cross off this objection.