If we accept there is a Kingdom of God in the first place, and as Christ Jesus directed us to seek it before anything else, and that the Kingdom of God is within us as discussed previously, then where does sickness and sin fit in? Consider... Do they simply fall away as we blissfully enter the Kingdom, ala Transcendental Meditation? or like so many of the beliefs about dying and going to heaven, etc.? We think not.
St Paul admonishes us: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Can we not assume salvation is the entering into the Kingdom?
Okay, so we get that we are supposed to overcome sin in order to enter in, but sickness? That is off limits! Is it not heartless to even suggest that we are required to overcome disease? Yes, we are to try, but ultimately it is governed by the "law" of probabilities, something sacred to modern man, and certainly beyond man's responsibility. But what about the poor sap who is enslaved by sin of a life-long addiction? What are his chances according to the law of probabilities?
Most Christian theology helplessly abides with this conundrum and this explain why so many, especially the younger generations, cannot find satisfaction with so many loose ends. It makes no sense.
Getting back to St Paul, he makes the radical claim: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The Adam, material man is profoundly different from the spiritual Christ man. The Adam man is governed by the law of probabilities, and is ulitimately condemned to death. Clearly, "in Christ shall all be made alive" is a preferable destination!
But how does this relate to me, here and now? Every ounce of sin uncovered or hint of disease, physical discomfort, is to be used to leverage man out of a material view of existence, with the curse of Adam, into the spiritual - out of denial into acceptance of a good, God who is love. This is not wishful thinking, nor an excuse for self-condemnation, but this is rubber-meets-the-road working out our salvation.
I know of no more valuable resource than Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy to aid in this endeavor:
To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is
big with blessings...
The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent
of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the
portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and
the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling
away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-
stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a
right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is
Life eternal. Though empires fall, "the Lord shall
reign forever."