Enjoy... But remember
"Don't give in to winning the argument
and losing one of your eternal crowns..."
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'4) Where does this leave the Church today? If God's kingdom in its complete from is a future event and if the imperfection of our present age is in some way permitted by God, what should the Church be doing in its ministry to bodies, minds, emotions, spirits and social structures? There seems to be a number of possible responses: a) Sit back and do nothing. We should just wait for the kingdom to come. b) Go out and try to heal all we can, etc and show people some of the reality of the kingdom as it has already come. c) Seek to do what Jesus did! Try to know God's will in each situation, Jesus said,' the Son...can do only what he sees His Father doing' (John 5:19). This last is the vital clue (Matt 15:13). 5) Problems with wholeness a) It has been suggested that such teaching on wholeness implies ipso facto that if a born-again Christian is physically sick then it is either his fault or the fault of those minsitering that he is not healed. It would be quite wrong to apportion blame in any case. We can only say that the key to our healing is often hidden from us (and from those ministering) due to human frailty. We all, both those sick and those ministering healing, have damaged areas in our lives, often way back in the past, of which we may as yet be unaware,even though it hinders the healing process in us. b) It has been suggested that to offer healing on the same basis as forgiveness is misleading. Any who comes to Christ will be forgiven, but will everyone who comes to Christ be healed? The problem is not really ours, but the gospel's ( Mk 2:1-12). The fact is there are many who come to Christ who, for one reson or another do not find forgiveness - through some hardness of heart, or wanting Christ's forgivenss but being themselves unwilling ot forgive, etc. Some are forgiven but are not physically healed. Some are physically healed but not forgiven. Some experience both spiritual healing (forgivenss)and physical healing (cure). Some experience neither. 'Many are called . Few are chosen.' Conclusion It is not God's creative will for anyone to be sick, but as Christians we must face the fact. All of us get sick - not everyone gets healed. We are still part of a fallen and groaning creation. Healings are a sign that the kingdom has come, but the limited number only goes to show that the kingdom of God has not yet fully comes. The following extract from a letter by Christopher C. (Feb , 1985) is most helpful: 1) Our concept of healing is big enough to accept the apparent failure of a lack in physical healing. If healing is for wholeness, then healing may be present even when eyes remain blind and ears remain deaf. The spirit, the mind, the emotions, may be the object of God's healing in these situations... 2) We will signs of the victory God has already won in Christ. We will see eyes and ears opened but we will not see every eye nor every ear opened. Toe expect to do so is to miss the tension between the 'now' and the 'not yet' of God's kingdom and to attempt to by-pass th mystery between God's creative and His permissive will. This tension is the 'x factor' in healing , the unknown quantity which God in His sovereignty does not choose to reveal. Humility will always be the right approach. But failure to continue ministering wholeness because we cannot see all being healed is plain disobedience to the Great Commission.' |