When you break your leg, you get yourself to a hospital immediately so that the staff can begin the treatment and therapy needed to heal that leg. An X-ray will determine the extent of the injury and then if the injury is severe, a surgical procedure may be required to heal it. If not, minimally, the bone is then set, a cast or other wrapping is placed around it to reduce movement and, of course, don’t leave without pain medication! After that, you patiently wait as nature takes its course to complete the healing process. Other than the trauma and disruption that such an injury inevitably creates, your body knows what to do to heal naturally. With spiritual sickness and disease, although there are similarities to physical illness, there are also distinct differences…you’d expect as much; for the body heals in one way and your psyche heals in another.
The obvious difference between the two, especially using the example above, is that when you break a leg, the pain is immediate and that tells you all you need to know. “THIS HURTS, GET ME TO A HOSPITAL!!” No subtlety there. Spiritual trauma is more nuanced; you may go for years and not have any awareness whatsoever that you are in pain or in need of spiritual therapy and healing. Yet, there are physiological maladies that can also go unnoticed, maladies such as heart disease or even cancer that can evade your consciousness for some time because you don’t typically feel them until they’re a problem. As true as that may be, with the advances in preventative medicine, there are ways now to detect ailments far sooner than at any previous time that allows treatment to begin before more serious symptoms arise.
When Spiritual Illness Goes Unnoticed
Another significant difference between spiritual and physiological sickness is that other than in the most unusual of circumstances, bodily health is a given, especially in developed nations. Concern with bodily health, especially in our youth and early adulthood, is mostly limited to traumatic situations rather than underlying health issues (although we might have to change the way we look at this with the proliferation of pharmaceutical prescriptions for young persons). Our concern for bodily sickness and disease begins when we age: once we tip the scale towards latter middle-age, our bodies tell us that we don’t get around like we used to and that’s when bodily health becomes more of a concern. This is not the case with spiritual sickness and disease. Spiritual sickness and disease begins early, as early as childhood and no one is immune. The Psalmist, King David puts this succinctly when he states: “For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bear me.” (Ps. 50/51). With spiritual sickness and disease, we need to address it now if not yesterday.
We have only to look to the Woman with the Issue of Blood (Lk. 8:43ff) as a prime example of this. She struggled with her ailment for eighteen years, expending all her resources for a cure which alluded her until she encountered Christ. When in distress, like her, we all want to be healed and made healthy and should expect the best care and treatment possible. This is a certainty when we entrust our care to our Lord and Creator, Jesus Christ.
Recognizing Our Need for Healing
As stated in our previous blog and the introduction to Faith Healing, the Apostles and Evangelists have two primary concepts of healing: the one whereby healing is experienced through therapeutic means and the other where healing is understood in a more clinical way. No need to debate which is the more efficacious: they both provide healing. What is essential for those that desire authentic faith healing, the healing of their faith, is the recognition that all ailments, all that is wrong about us and within us is the result of our waywardness from Christ; which is to say, all disease, malady and more pointedly, all that is wrong in the world, is a result of sin. It is we and not them that requires a spiritual alignment. If your wheels are not aligned properly on the crowded highway of life, then you’re going to run off the road.
So, where do we go for this spiritual “wheel alignment”? Well, before you go anywhere, you first need to acknowledge whether you need an “alignment” in the first place; for, if you think that everything is hunky-dory, then what are we talking about? So, how are those wheels; are they taking you in in the direction that you want to go? And how should you know which direction that is? This is where things can get tricky. Everything seems to be okay, my significant relationships are going well, other than the few hick ups that constitute any relationship. The job and kids are okay; my life seems pretty good as I don’t expect perfect, right? This is all true, however, there is only one barometer of health and a healthy relationship and that is the relationship you have with the author of your life, your Lord and Creator, Jesus Christ.
Christ as the Measure of Spiritual Health
So, yes, the wife and kids are good, and the job is what it is; however, if we do not have a personal and authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, we’ll never know for sure what is real in our life outside of Jesus because we can easily delude ourselves into thinking and believing that all is well. There’s only one barometer of true health and joy: that is the Way, the Life, and the Truth, Jesus Christ. That’s the only authentic measure of a spiritual alignment. Do we have a relationship with the source of life and joy that is Christ, and if so, do we have a proper relationship with Him? Our sights have to be on Him; otherwise, we “miss the mark,” which is the very definition of sin. If we do not regard a relationship with Jesus as the key and central aim for us, then how do we even begin to discuss what a proper relationship is with Him?
This is foremost: the desire to know Jesus, the desire to have a relationship with Him. Until we have our sights on Him, it makes no sense to discuss what a proper relationship is with Him. Yet, regrettably for the vast majority, the realization that we have a need for Him comes only when we reach the level of desperation like that of the Woman with an Issue of Blood we spoke about earlier and that we’ll delve more into (Matt. 9; Mark 5; Luke 8). What is truly tragic is to be in the thralls of pain and despair and yet rationalize it based on our fatalistic or nihilistic ignorance, summed up by “well, it is what it is” or “that’s just the way things are.” This is the surest pathway to death and destruction, and some are already there as a member of the Walking Dead. Yet, we know that’s not the way to go; our human DNA is to have hope and faith. We want to believe in something; we truly do. We want and seek a Savior.
So, before we go more into depth on the dynamics of faith healing, I thought it important to discuss, firstly, the differences between bodily and spiritual illness and secondly, the immediacy of addressing spiritual health. These distinctions become ever more critical as materialism becomes more embedded in society. Yes, on the surface, “spirituality” seems to be so important, yet given the worldly context and objective of contemporary society, it’s hard to digest this worldly spirituality as authentic and useful. It’s only when we first accept that spiritual malady has been festering within us from childhood that we appreciate the need for a spiritual checkup and the prescription for health that we desire.
In our next installment, we’ll delve more deeply into Scripture and get to know the individuals that approached Jesus for healing. As we come to appreciate who these individuals are, we’ll come to appreciate the similarities between their situation and ours. They sought healing and were healed; we can also likewise.
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