The high cost of low living

It is better to be pruned to grow up than cut up to burn. Sickness and suffering in the lives of believers are not always the result of personal sin (Job 1-2), but sometimes they are. For example, Uzziah, king of Judah, was a prideful man who was struck with leprosy when he entered the holy place reserved only for the priest (2 Chronicles 26:16-23). Believers in Corinth suffered physically because of their sin in taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). Much of the suffering and sickness that the godly experience is the direct result of sin. Such sins require confession before God (James 5:14-18).