Where Can We Find Healing?

-

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it might take to heal our nation.


An image of Jesus on the cross keeps coming to mind. You see, our Creator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, loving God knew. He knew what it would take to heal the world.



Sacrifice.


“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16


In Genesis 22 we learn the story of Abraham and Isaac. God told Abraham that He wanted Him to sacrifice His only son on an altar. It’s not something Abraham wanted to do.  It’s not anything he was comfortable with. In fact, I imagine that Abraham grieved over what he was asked to do, yet he still chose to be obedient. What he didn’t know is that God never intended to take Issac. He wanted Abraham to show his trust in God.


I don’t think many of us are asked to sacrifice our children in a literal sense, but I do believe that God calls for sacrifice in our daily lives. If we claim to hold the title of Christ-follower, we are called to a life of surrender. That means listening to what God says about putting others above ourselves. That may mean choosing humility by sacrificing our “rights,” for another person’s feelings. Choosing to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” -Philippians 2:3


I know, that totally goes against our human nature, but it is what’s right, and when we get down to the nitty-gritty of it all, it’s not truly taking anything away from us. Consider some of the things we are asked to do lately. Many of them may not be comfortable emotionally or physically. Hanging on the cross was not comfortable for Jesus either, but He did it for a bunch of selfish, hateful, and demanding humans anyway. 


Did you know that if we pray and ask God to help us surrender, to handle a situation without giving our opinion or interfering, He can do that? 


It’s true.



Because Abraham was obedient and willing to make such a large sacrifice of his only son, God rewarded him by 1: not taking that son away from him, and 2: rewarding him with so many descendants, he couldn’t even keep count. Abraham believed (trusted) God and it was credited to him as righteousness. God handled it.


There is one thing God has commanded us to do above everything else. 


It’s LOVE (Matthew 22:36-40). It really is that simple. Focus on that first, and everything else becomes so much more clear.


What small thing is God asking you to sacrifice in order to keep that commandment?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complexity of Prayer

-
Image
Have you ever considered the complexity of prayer? Have you ever had something you needed to pray about, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to talk to God about whatever the issue was? I have experienced that many times. I will call it “Prayer paralysis.” Prayer paralysis happens when you are afraid of any answer God might give you. If He says no, then you might feel bad, or sad, or even angry. If He says yes, then your fear factor increases because you just don’t think you can handle what a “Yes” entails (which essentially means that you don’t trust Him). So instead of revealing your lack of trust (Like seriously, you don’t think He knows? ), you just don’t pray. It’s kind of like when you were a little kid, and you would sit still and close your eyes, thinking that it would make you invisible. God already knows our fears of failure, self-pride, and even our trust issues, so we might as well just go ahead and lay it all at His feet. There’s another kind of prayer paralysis that I ha
Read more

Should Someone Call an Exorcist?

-
Image
Last Friday I went bowling with some of my family. I am aware of my low skill level, so I remained humble throughout the first game, and surprisingly finished in 1st place!  The second game began and I just knew I would dominate even more. I may not have been quite as humble. I was last on the list to go. I stood up and approached my ball with confidence. I picked it up, set my eye on the center arrow painted on the lane, then took a few quick steps forward just as I had before.  As I took my last step, I swung my arm backward, then forward, and fell flat on my face. Actually, flat is not entirely accurate. I’m pretty sure every one of my limbs flew in a different direction, and the position of my head may have had folks wondering if they should call an exorcist. I also seemed to be temporarily blinded from the fall but could hear my ball bouncing its way down the lane. Let’s pause for a moment of prayer. The problem was that I had stepped over the foul line into the lane— 1. Not reali
Read more

Go Deeper

-
Image
  Anyone struggling with anxiety? I have struggled with it quite a bit. Then, I realize that forgetting to bring all of my anxiety-inducing problems to God, is a big part of the problem. Yesterday I talked about living in endurance mode. Part of that is taking all of the difficult things, and trying to wait them out.  If I really think about it, I may have subconsciously believed that struggling is just part of the journey and that I need to suck it up, because Jesus went through way more than I ever will.    But, “ Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)  He never intended for us to hold onto them. Sometimes we don’t bother saying anything to God because, well, He knows what’s happening. He can change it if He wants to. So we sit paralyzed—enduring! Is that familiar to anyone? Though He could whisk our struggles away at any time, part of the journey, part of our relationship with the Creator is rooted in commu
Read more