The last few months have been really busy. With student teaching, graduation, applying for jobs, wedding planning, and buying a house I have put my health on the back burner. Now you know what is coming next, I got sicker! I got bronchitis and a sinus infection which made me feel pretty gross. From that I ended up cracking a few ribs from coughing too much. It has been a very healthy reminder that I am still weak and fragile. As humans we all are, but especially as a lyme disease patient, I am weaker than most.
I was challenged by my discouraged attitude and lack of faith in Christ to heal me from these illnesses, but also from Lyme. I was challenged by some things I have read in book of John. I was waiting and praying for Christ to heal me, He has the power to do so in one word. However, I have not been active to pursue healing myself by using the resources He has provided for me.
I have been astounded by a particular theme I see in healing displayed in the scripture.
Believe, Trust, and Act.
It may seem simple, but it is so profound to me. I have three examples of this from the book of John.
Example One:
49 The royal official *said to Him, “[h]Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [i]son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. ~John 4:49-53
A nobleman sought out Jesus to go to his home and heal his son who was deathly ill. Jesus, rather than traveling with him simply told him your son will live, go home. That nobleman didn't fight or beg Jesus to travel with him and heal his son, but rather he left Jesus fully believing and trusting that his son was well. He had no idea if Jesus' words would be true but he believed them to be. This man was rewarded by his trust, belief and action in Christ. In turn his son was indeed made well at the exact moment Jesus said the word.
Example Two:
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] ~John 5:2-4
This is a funky idea that I had never quite understood prior times to reading John but stay with me! There was a pool of water that many sick and afflicted people would flock to. Why? Every so often an angel would come down and stir the water, potentially putting a healing agent in the water. The first person to enter the pool was healed from their illness.
My first thought was why is it that only the first person to enter the pool that was healed? Seemed a bit selfish to me. After reading some commentaries by Matthew Henry I was given a different perspective. By having only the first person who entered the pool be healed it showed direct action and trust in their ability to be well. They didn't wait around and see what happened when others entered the water but they jumped in believing they would be made well. Again, we see these people trusted they would be made well to the point they flocked around this water and stayed their waiting for it to be stirred up so they could jump in. That is quite a step of faith.
Example Three:
6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.”So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.”[a]He kept saying, “I am the one.” 10 So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” ~John 9:6-11
The final example I have read thus far in John is the story of a blind man. Jesus saw this blind man and He spit on the ground and created a clay substance which he rubbed on this mans eyes. He then told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man then had a choice to make. Having no idea who Jesus was he could choose to rub the clay off and go his own way, back to the only lifestyle he knew of or he could believe Jesus and walk by faith to the pool to receive his eyesight.
The man did walk by faith and washed in the pool and received his eyesight. Had he not believed Jesus and taken the steps to healing he would not have gained his eyesight.
In all of these situations we see Jesus Christ who has the ability and power to heal each and every illness with a word, but that is not how He healed people. Jesus desired to see each persons heart. If that person believed and took steps of faith and trust they were healed. If they did not uphold their end of what Jesus told them to do for healing, they were not healed.
This has been such a healthy reminder for me spiritually and physically. I still have lyme disease, although it is much better (sometimes forget I have it because of the healing I have experienced) Christ still asks me to walk by faith believing He can heal me, but also to pursue that healing by being faithful to the doctors He has provided for me.
It is also a reminder that Jesus pursues us spiritually and greets us where we are at, but He also loves us too much to leave us where we are. He rather desires to see us grow in faith and trust. We can do that by reading the scripture and believing what He says as truth and walking in it.
"To believe in Christ is to commit ourselves to Him and His guidance. " ~ Matthew Henry
Questions to Consider:
In what ways have you committed yourself to Christ?
What ways have you followed Christ's guidance?
How can you grow in your belief of Christ and trust in Him?
What action steps of faith is the Lord asking you do take?
Prayer:
*We would be people who believe, trust and respond to Jesus in faith.
*Healing for my illness, ribs, and lyme disease.
*Help to follow the doctors orders and be faithful to my treatment plan.
Exciting New:
*Today is my last day at Woodside Middle School as a student teacher and my last day as a student! It is also Alex's last day at Lawson. Our graduation ceremony is December 21, 2013!
*We bought a house and have it all cleaned and ready for Alex to move in tomorrow!
*Alex Deeter and I are getting married in 17 days and counting!
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