Wholeness: healing

One of the more obvious elements of wholeness would be healing, but it can be a sensitive subject. Let's face it, when you look at healing in the church it often conjures images of preachers who like to make a huge spectacle of such things. Which often causes some people to just stay away from the subject, to distance themselves from these hucksters. As I have already said before, going to the opposite extreme isn't necessarily the right answer, and it definitely isn’t here. So maybe it's time we stop looking at the subject with such tunnel vision and consider all the variables.

One problem I see when it comes to healing in the church is we tend to only look at it in the frame of physical healing. Yet, when you look at the world it seems that most of the brokenness is more emotional and spiritual, not physical. Yet, these illnesses are just as infectious as any disease, since broken people tend to hurt people and make more broken people. Yet it's potentially more preventable if we would treat the problem as seriously as it deserves.

Our suffering in developed countries is primarily psychological, relational, and addictive: the suffering of people who are comfortable on the outside but oppressed and empty within. It is a crisis of meaninglessness, which leads us to try to find meaning in possessions, perks, prestige, and power, which are always outside of the self. -Richard Rohr

The second major problem I see is that we see healing merely as a matter of faith only. That righteous people get healed, and unrighteous people don’t; period. Which often leads to judgment upon mere appearances. (John 7:24)

Scripture doesn't absolutely support either of these cut and dry ideas. Take the story of Jacob, and when he receives the blessing of Israel. (Genesis 32:24-32) That blessing was synonymous with him getting a crippled hip. Afterward, we see him utilizing fewer schemes from that point on. So it appears that he needed that bit of humility to be more surrendered to God. So this physical limitation leads him to be more spiritually whole.

We see a similar story in The New Testament with the apostle Paul, and his "thorn in the flesh." (2nd Corinthians 12:7-10) There are plenty of theories on what his "thorn" was, but the specifics are not important. What is relevant is that he was not healed of it, despite his pleas. You would be hard-pressed to make an argument that Paul lacked faith. However, much like Jacob, he was once a very prideful man who depended on himself. While he was still Saul, he often rationalized many evils in the name of what he saw as the greater good. So also like Jacob, it seems that God thought he needed that bit of humility to become more spiritually whole. Paul even seems to acknowledge just that in the passage.

The conclusion of the matter is this humanity gets fixated on the flesh in healing because we want more comfortable, convenient, and easy lives. Yet, God realizes that ease can keep us from growth, maturity, and true wholeness. In the end, God is more concerned about your heart than your flesh. Since the heart has a far greater effect on your wholeness than your flesh does. This point about the heart is a constant in scripture, so why do we have such a hard time applying it to wholeness and healing? If you have been denied physical healing, I would strongly suggest that you have a long hard look at your heart. It may just be your real obstacle to wholeness.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” -1st Samuel 16:7

For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the person.” -Mark 7:21-23

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