It wasn’t until I read through each of the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John in succession, that I realized that most of Jesus’ ministry was healing people, making them well.
We talk about Jesus as an amazing teacher without noticing that many of his teachings involved or came after healing or an exorcism.
Restoring people to completeness seems to be one of his main
activities. One particular interaction, The Healing at the Pool, I find striking.
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
John 5:6
Jesus makes this request, that seemingly has an obvious answer, even though he knew he was suffering. “Yes! Of course, I want to be healed! You know how long I’ve been like this. You know how much I’ve tried.” Is what I would probably answer.
I think Jesus is showing his patient a lot of respect by asking this question.
God wants our participation in our transformation. He wants us to be involved and agree that a new way of life, a better way of life, is possible. Do you want to go there?
Naming the Hurt
It takes a lot of courage to tell others where we are hurting. It takes humility to acknowledge that all is not well in our lives, but we want to be well.
Putting words to what is not going well in our lives is a big deal.
Just saying to ourselves, or others, I’m fine, all’s well, I’m good, means that we miss out on so much. We miss the healing.
Much of my current growth is around realizing, coming to my senses, acknowledging the reality that all is not well and in real terms, agreeing with God about what is true. For me, this is admitting that I haven’t got life all figured out.
I think Jesus made it obvious all along, that he came to restore us:
Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:17
For some reason, stating the sickness, or the thing I would like to change doesn’t come easily. It is something I prefer to avoid.
The Dangers of Positivity
I have a propensity to put a positive spin on everything. I reframe the hard, difficult or negative realities in a positive light to avoid them. I do this with work situations and with issues in my marriage and family.
When I fail to acknowledge my dissatisfaction with a situation or with life in general, it distances myself from God and others that could connect with me where I am actually at.
My over desire to paint everything with a rosy picture leads me to be disconnected from reality.
The more and more I put a positive spin on reality the further, and further I get from reality. And the word for out of touch with reality is delusional.
Denial Makes You Delusional
It seems there is part of me that can never be satisfied. I am bouncing from one thing to the next, working my way out of something or trying to get to get to some place where the grass is greener.
Inability to express dissatisfaction keeps me from finding satisfaction. Constantly trying to make things different stops me from accepting or even enjoying life as it is and finding contentment.
I have this belief that reality is however you paint it. And when things don’t turn our as I have imagined, or reality is different than what I made up, it leads to loss and hurt and disappointment. But then I just dismiss it and say that it doesn’t really matter to me anyway.
I feel like I am just stealing to see what I can get away with. No one really knows what I am up to and in the end, I am just stealing from myself.
The right word here is delusional.
Acknowledging that something sucks or that I am hurt by something is hard. That would mean acknowledging that life or my life isn’t as awesome as I would make it out to be. So I end up minimizing hurt our discrediting hardships by saying it doesn’t matter, or who cares.
Complaining about what is going wrong seems more than unproductive to me. By looking for a silver lining and painting life in a positive light, it validates my competence and proves that I am capable of making life work. In a way, I am saying to God; I don’t need you to make things right in my life.
Truth Brings Freedom
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32
Allow me to paraphrase: the bullshit you spin will entangle you.
Staying distant from reality reduces my capacity to enjoy life. For a long time, I thought freedom was calling my shots and doing whatever I wanted.
Freedom isn’t being able to do whatever you want to do; it comes from doing what is right.
I will walk about in freedom,
for I have sought your precepts.
Psalm 119:45
Freedom does not come from doing whatever I want to do. Whenever I do something stupid, some consequences often lead to shame and guilt, which makes things less enjoyable and more challenging, limiting freedom. Freedom comes from doing the right things.
Consequences from bad choices lead to less freedom. Poor choices lead
to shame and regret. Freedom is not being weighed down by regret. Freedom is
the ability to enjoy our lives.
Direct me in the paths of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Psalm 119:35
For me thought, it always seems more fun to see what you can get away with. Following the rules or doing what I’m told will flare up my nonconformist or noncompliant streak and ill do whatever I want to feel capable and avoid feeling controlled.
Things started to make a shift when I realized that BS wasn’t getting me where I wanted to go and was getting me further from where I wanted to be.
I wanted to be real and fully experience life.
The only thing that will get you there is finding people and getting into a circle where you can be open, honest, and willing to share struggles.
People can only connect with you when they know where you are at.
God will heal us and save us when we meet Jesus, name our hurt and agree with him that we want to get well.