What is it that you most want from Jesus? I suppose most of us pray for our own health and the health of our loved ones. We might also pray for relief from various sorts of problems – besetting sins, bad habits, or even addictions. But the bottom line is that we want our lives to be as smooth and pain-free as possible.

The people in today’s passage were no different. Once they found out that Jesus had the power to heal, they came from everywhere, bringing the sick and the demon-possessed. And Jesus healed them all – as verse 40 says, “every one of them.”

That’s still good news today – we worship a God Who has the power to heal us and to set us free. So, there’s nothing wrong with asking Him for such deliverance. Indeed, verse 38 indicates that we can even pray on behalf of others and expect God to bless them, just as Jesus’ disciples pleaded with Him to heal Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

But however great God’s blessings may be for us in this world, verse 43 reminds us that there’s something even more important than healing. After all, Jesus told His disciples that He hadn’t been sent to be a doctor, but to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. For after all, forgiveness of our sin and restoration to a right relationship with God have eternal significance. In contrast, all of those people whose bodies Jesus healed that day eventually died. So it is only those who placed their faith in Christ who had any really lasting benefit from His visit to their town.

So of course we should respond to whatever healing, whatever deliverance Christ gives us in this world the way that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law did – by serving Jesus with all our hearts. But the best way we can do that is to keep the main thing the main thing – to keep our focus on eternal things, and to encourage others to put Christ first in their lives as well.

Luke 4:38-43 (ESV)

38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.
39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,
43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”