Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes people are suffering and need a miracle. Sometimes people do things that are not healthy for themselves and others and need an intervention. Sometimes we just need to call out for help and in faith and sometimes we need to grow up. Is Your Spiritual Health Improving During The Pandemic?
Scripture: And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 (NRSV)
After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah. At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.
Luke 4:38-44 (NRSV)
Message: Whether it is spiritual health or physical or mental, we need to get well and sometimes that means growing up and out of the problem.
The Bible recounts more than a dozen times when Jesus healed a specific person, but the reality is that Jesus has healed more people than can be written about and that the Holy Spirit continues to heal through the work of God in people of faith. We get a sense of this healing in today’s scripture readings and the nature of individual diseases as well as our collective ones. You see, God has arranged the individual parts in our body, every one of them, to work together and so too our collective ones. If they were all one part, the body could not function. As it is, there are many parts that are supposed to be working together as one on a cellular as well as societal level. Talk to an orthopedic surgeon or an ophthalmologist…they know about the lame walking and the blind seeing in connection with our faith…and in connection with community. They know that sometimes our bodies to not work well. Sometimes our places of worship do not work well. Sometimes we face a disease and the need for healing individually as well as collectively healing. Thankfully Jesus the great heart surgeon makes house calls and in the Spirit sutures us back together, for there should be no division in the body. Indeed, if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. As Paul tells us, we are the body of Christ, and each one of us is a part of it. Friends, every part is essential to the whole; even those parts that seem insignificant. This leaves no room for pride or inferiority or jealousy in the body. No one is of lesser importance. Not everyone is going to be a faith healer. But everyone has a contribution essential to the whole. That is how we are to be healthy. We are to encourage one another in the same way the Holy Spirit comforts and helps. This means we are called alongside to help in times of need. And just as we are to bear one another’s burdens we are to utilize deeds and words that build up other members. The human body illustrates this well. When an infection or foreign agent attacks the body, a whole series of events goes into motion. All the systems of the body join to engage the intruder. Each part of the body serves the rest of the body. Certainly, some of this is science, for that is truth too, but some of it all remains a great mystery and so we must have faith.
And So, sometimes people are suffering and need nourishment for recovery and sometimes they need healing but most always we need faith that grows. Like newborn babies we crave pure spiritual milk but must grow up in our salvation to experience God incarnate. Solid food leads to spiritual maturity. Over the years I have gone from milk to meat in my appreciation of scripture. For years I hated to read the Bible, but I have grown to enjoy it. One must be motivated to mature. The problem for the people of Corinth was that they we not maturing. They were a mess and always fighting and their focus was on each other and not God. And their problem was that they wanted milk and not meat. And what I think Paul meant by this is that they wanted to be served and not to serve…they wanted a message that felt good and was easy to swallow like milk but did not convict them to be motivated to serve or address their sins that required them to chew on the Word made flesh. I think the real problem with these Corinthian believers was they were attracted to spiritual “junk food,” because they were fascinated by all the worldly speakers, but they could care less for the word of God. They were so full of junk food; they lost their appetite for good food. The Corinthians seemed to be interested in everything but the word of God and service for the King. Interestingly in today Gospel reading Simon Peter’s mother is healed of a fever and immediately begins serving. Friends, we have to come to a point of health and maturity before we can help others.
Pray we realize that there are some things we can do to develop a healthy body of believers that are spiritually and physically connected. Pray we be less envious of others. Pray we do not quarrel with others. Pray we be joined as one body with a purpose of growing to serve. Pray we develop diversity and commitment. Pray we embrace the Holy Spirit in the work of promoting and preserving unity. Pray we love and forgive one another. Pray we do not provoke or lie to each other. Pray we continue to grow. Pray we be kind to one another. Pray we serve one another with our God given gifts. Pray we admonish, encourage and build one another up in the architecture of our faith with Christ as the cornerstone. Pray however that we do not have hearts of stone. Pray we understand that the health of one can affect the health of all. Pray therefor we comfort one another in the Spirit of love and truth. Pray we have faith in the Good Doctor. Pray we have a peace that passes understanding. Pray we grow up to be healthy Christians.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 