Monday, November 22, 2010

When a Formula Doesn't Work...


As I have been reading about the miracles of Jesus and the way that he healed people and set them free from their afflictions, I've noticed that Jesus didn't apply a certain formula...a kind of "how to fix people" one size fits all cure. Rather he seems to assess each person he meets with a sense of individuality and compassion. With some people he touched them, for others he spoke to them. Others he healed from a distance (i.e. the centurion's servant) but it appears that he never quite ministered to any two the same way. In Psalms 139, God reveals that our minds and bodies are uniquely ours...we do not have the exact same inclinations, desires, history or make up as anyone else in the world. The Lord has challenged me repeatedly to lay down my pre-concieved ideas of how He will heal and listen to him. It is a temptation to look at the afflictions of others and assume we know the best way for them to be healed. The problem with our assessments is that we often don't have all the facts and frankly we don't know the inner workings of the person in need. It can seem to be so easy to look at the symptoms of our friends and not their hearts and minds. When formulas don't work perhaps its time to look at Jesus.


"O LORD, you have earched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you percieve my thoughts from afar. You disern my going out and my lying down; you are familiear with all my ways." Ps. 139:1-3

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