THE HEALING CHRIST
28/02/24 14:48
Living in life is a challenge even if our life has only suffered the middle class wounds common to Western Life. Some of these are self-inflicted wounds and others are dished out by others in the form of varieties of abuse or the just the common unlove that defines community as an economy rather than a society. It’s amazing that there are politicians who tout their Christianity while treating people and classes of individuals in an overt disconnect to the Christ of the Christianity that they advertise.
COMMON TO LIVING
Some of the worst wounds come from left field circumstance. Unexpected events like tree limbs falling on loved ones while camping and car accidents.
CARE
There are good books written about recovering from abuse and rising above life’s hurts – the better ones direct us to finding healing in Jesus.
WHO YOU ARE
We do well to be who we are in Christ, rather than as the product life events. It’s not hard to develop and identity and a victim. Or even as a poor person when you are not poor in the present but had difficult start.
We can define who we are in Christ. All of us are a version of Him whether we realise it or not – yet our unique selves. Real identity, peace and purpose as well as doing better than surviving, is found when Jesus is our life for real and not just a piece of religion that we put on like a shirt.
SHARK ATTACK
Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a shark when she was thirteen. She continued surfing and has become a role model for many, especially girls. ‘Hamilton has lived more than half her life in the public eye, and encountered fame at an early age, all stemming from a single incident, yet she refuses to let it define her.
Bethany attributes the healing of herself to God. This healing is available to all since God is a spirit and lives with all and in all – yet a personal Jesus is definitely a great advantage. We are not in life on our own and we are not the friend of God who has not suffered. A key reason for the cross - often overlooked - is that through the cross, God participated in our suffering and used it to make a way of healing and bringing us into His life while affording us eternal life.
DEFINE WHO YOU ARE
Don’t let wounds define you and do not obsess over getting even with those who have abused or hurt you. If your Christ-life is not about sin-management, neither is it about dwelling on painful abuse. There is a way to the other side. It’s called resurrection. This is yours in Christ. He carries the marks of the cross on His hands. You will always carry the marks of your pain in this life – but you can triumph, you can find peace and comfort in Jesus and in the company of those who have suffered.
SILENT BEFORE THE CROSS
Found this quote by Thomas Torrance last week: “If I did not believe in the cross, I could not believe in God. The cross means that, while there is no explanation of evil, God himself has come into the midst of it in order to take it upon himself, to triumph over it, and deliver us from it.”
Let this statement speak to you at the deepest end of your spirit.
(1) Morrison, Stephen D.. T. F. Torrance in Plain English (Plain English Series Book 2) (p. 168). Beloved Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.
