Jesus, Healing, and Childlike Faith

 (I wrote this post a few weeks ago.  I plan to write another update soon.)

Jesus is good.

His love is close and real.

We've been experiencing that so much lately.  In fact, during these last few months, as my body has started to show more of its old symptoms (pain, swelling, fatigue) and even some new ones, our inner experience of Jesus and his reality has been so much greater than it's ever been before.

Yes, you read that correctly.  My body hasn't been feeling very well.  I've had a lot of days of pain and rest.  I've had to cancel my work appointments more often than I've been able to keep them .  I've even begun to see new damage in my joints (namely my ankles and toes).  It hasn't been easy for either of us.

But here's the beautiful thing.  We believe in healing at the hands of Jesus now more than we ever have.  We have to.  The more we spend time in the His presence, letting his Spirit speak to us, the more he shows us the full power of the salvation that he bought for us.

Unfortunately, we can sometimes let the disappointments, the tragedies in our lives shape the truth that we believe.  But in so doing, we cheapen the finished work of Jesus.  We strip him of his power, of his goodness, of his compassion.  And I understand why.  We don't mean to do it.  We just come up with explanations for why our experience doesn't match his promises.  "He hasn't healed me because he has a greater purpose behind this."  "I am still overcome by depression or anger or judgment because it's part of who I am.  Someday, we'll all be free."  It's very very natural.

But we are now called to be SUPERnatural.  And that sometimes means letting go of our explanations.  For we are to "lean not on our own understanding."  We are to instead "trust in the LORD" and his revealed will in his word "with all our hearts."  "For the righteous", we who live and stand confidently in God's favor thanks to Jesus, "shall live by our faith."

For us, with my health, that means that we choose to believe that Jesus WANTS to heal me.  It's easy for us to believe that he can.  Of course he CAN heal me.  He CAN do anything he wants.  That's not really faith.  It's avoiding faith. 

It stems from a mindset that says, "God is all-powerful and thus can heal me.  However, he might not.  In fact, it's more likely that he won't.  And since he won't, it must mean that he must not want to for some greater reason."

But faith that moves mountains looks at Jesus, since his is the "express image" of the Father, and trusts in his revealed will, his heart, his character.  Jesus never denied a single person healing.  When asked if he wanted to, if he willed it, he said, "I am WILLING!"  What's more, he promised that we who believe would lay hands on the sick and they would be healed! 

He didn't say only some would be healed.  Instead, he healed 100% of his attempts and then said, "Go do likewise."  "As the Father sent me so I send you."  "You will do greater works than these."

When the disciples tried to heal the epileptic boy while Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, they failed.  Did that give grounds for a theology of defeat though?  No, because Jesus came and healed the boy.  Their experience showed nothing about Jesus' desire to see the boy well, about his will.

It's not the Bible that stops at "God CAN heal."  It's our reasoning.  Our experience has seen people get sick and not get healed.  So we start to put on our adult-tinted glasses and reason ourselves out of childlike faith in the outlandish promises of God.  But we can't let what we haven't seen malign the name of Jesus.

So if Jesus walked into the room right now, would he heal me?  Absolutely.  His compassion compels him.  It's irresistible.  It IS his will.  The Bible says.  So we fight for that.  We push into that.  We resist the urge to reason, and we let faith in God's truth shape our experience.