For the last couple of years I've been practicing the "preach the Gospel to yourself daily" form of personal devotion. Mostly I do this in a journal, and lately I've been by journaling through the Gospel of Mark. I am not trying to say something brilliantly insightful in these journal entries, only to use the text to preach the Gospel to myself.
Here, in brief, is an example. This morning's text was Mark 5:25-34, the story of the woman with the "flow of blood," who reached out to touch Jesus' garment and was immediately healed. Now, this text is usually preached this way: the woman had faith in Jesus and, as Jesus said, her faith made her well. We too ought to have faith in Jesus to reach out to touch the hem of his garment in order to find healing in our time of need. Frankly, although I can't argue with this message, it still makes me want to go yadda yadda yadda (I hope that's not a sacrilege!).
But what I remembered this morning, as I read Jesus' words to the woman, "Your faith has made you well; go in peace," was that we who believe, we who therefore have Christ living within us and are being transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another (do we really believe it?), we are those who have been made well! We are those to whom Jesus has said, "Your faith has made you well. Go in peace."
That's all. And that's a lot. Whether or not we're sick or well, we have a deep and abiding wellness within our souls. The wellness that comes from being free in Christ and unafraid. The wellness that comes to those who know their destiny is secure. The wellness of knowing that our sins--no matter how terrible--have been forgiven, once and for all, through the cross of Christ.
Listen, if that's not wellness, I don't know what is. When I'm sick, I will always reach out to Jesus for healing, just like the woman in the story, but whether I'm sick or well, the truth is that it is well / it is well / with my soul.
Christian, go in peace.
7 comments:
Bob- I like your idea of preaching the Gospel to myself, and intend to try it. I need, we all need, to be more focused on what Jesus has done and less focused on our own sins and problems. Thanks for the idea!
Great insight Bob!
Although I don't see this as an "either/or" but rather a "yes/and". I may not be as far along as you are on this stuff, but I've never been tempted to yadda, yadda, yadda through this beautiful story of healing. It's one of my favorite passages of scripture! Absolutely beautiful.
Thanks to both Journeyman and Bill. Bill, you are of course right. It's not either/or, and I hope I didn't give that impression. Just to clear things up (maybe), the Biblical passage doesn't make me want to go yadda yadda yadda, but the preaching about it sometimes does. Only because we are treated as an audience of "unwell" people, rather than reminded that Christ has made us well.
Not to put too fine a point on it, though. We are also unwell, and need examples like that of the woman with the flow of blood. By all means, we should seek after healing, because we know (have faith) that Jesus heals. Still, even in our "unwellness," we ought to be able to honestly declare, it is well with my soul. Recall Paul's "for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." The Gospel should breed contentment in us. If it isn't, well, maybe we just haven;t understood it!
Excellent clarification. Thanks Bob!
our faith will make us well, and we can go in peace, i believe it, but i do not always abide in that peace. i think that my faith is sometimes lacking when it comes to living it out.
i like the "preach the Gospel to yourself daily" concept. thank you for sharing that.
Yup, Nancy, that's all of us. Our faith is lacking when it comes to living it out. This is why we need faith: so we can live it out. And that's why preaching the Gospel to ourselves is so important. Thanks for sharing!
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