Paralyzed people are lazy. They just sit around all day; some hardly even move a muscle. I saw one that was so lazy she had a motorized car that she controlled by breathing into a straw. How bad is that, too lazy to even push a button?
That is what it sounds like to me when people equate personal healing with personal faith. I cannot remember a time when someone asked me if I believed enough that felt like a gift, but always an accusation.
The following are my answers to the person who says “if you had more faith, God would heal (or bless, give a job to, find a spouse for, etc) you”
1. It is your fault
According to scripture (perhaps my least favorite way to begin a dialogue, but I will make an exception in this case) in Mark 2, it was the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends that caused Jesus to heal. So actually if YOU had more faith I would fine.
2. I don’t want to be healed
This one works best with personal healing and jobs. Simply say “No thanks, I like things this way,” and the conversation will end abruptly.
3. My faith is growing, not shrinking
No one likes to think about this one, but it seems the scriptures often equate faith with endurance, the ability to love and believe God in the midst of hard times. The problem is this gift, as it is called in James, is given only to those who suffer. Thus, if I were healed I would lose the training that suffering provides.
4. It takes more faith to not be healed
Which is harder, to believe I am loved by and special to God when He gives me what I want when I want it, or to not have what I want and still believe? The ones with the strongest faith believe in the relentless love of God in the midst of evidence to do otherwise.
5. I don’t believe this time
This may sound strange, but I don’t think God always does want to heal and I do not want to pester Him. When my children were little and asked why their sibling got something they did not, I would always say “because I love them more”. It was an mplication, and since I was never able to give a satisfactory answer I just gave up and owned the accusation.
Nothing will adequately soothe the wound, often by well-intentioned friends, of the accusation of lack of faith. It stings, but if it is especially painful feel free to reply, “yea, and paralyzed folks are lazy.”
