"Suffering with this illness is making me more like Christ."
How it sounds in your head: Jesus suffered, so maybe your suffering is part of becoming Christlike. Your pastor quoted Romans 8:17 about suffering with Him. Sounds biblical. Sounds noble.
"Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."
-- 1 Peter 2:24Source: Religion confusing Christ's REDEMPTIVE suffering with random sickness, making disease a spiritual virtue instead of an enemy Jesus defeated.
It makes your pain feel purposeful and spiritually significant instead of just being the result of living in a fallen world with an enemy. Gives you identity as a 'suffering saint.'
Bent over for EIGHTEEN YEARS, couldn't straighten up—Jesus called her forward, said 'Woman, you are loosed,' laid hands on her and IMMEDIATELY she was made straight. No waiting period, no character-building process.
I REFUSE the lie that my sickness makes me more like Jesus. IT IS WRITTEN that by HIS stripes I WAS healed—1 Peter 2:24—past tense, finished at the cross. Jesus bore sickness SO I DON'T HAVE TO; His suffering was SUBSTITUTIONARY, not a model for me to copy. I become like Christ by walking in His VICTORY, not by re-crucifying myself with disease. IT IS WRITTEN that I am the righteousness of God in Christ—2 Corinthians 5:21—I am ALREADY like Him in righteousness, not in suffering sickness He already defeated. I am Abraham's seed, blessed coming and going, blessed in my body. The BARAK protected Judah who slept with his daughter-in-law—how much MORE does the blood of Jesus protect me. Sickness, you have NO legal ground. I stand in RESURRECTION LIFE.
Your Father doesn't need you to re-suffer what Jesus already suffered PERFECTLY on your behalf—He needs you to RECEIVE the healing Jesus already bought. You're being conformed to Christ's IMAGE, which is health, wholeness, and victory.