 Many years ago, I hurt my foot while I was goofing around. After a while, and the prodding of some of the nurses at work, I finally gave in and went to the foot doctor. He threw my foot under an X-Ray and there it was, a broken bone in all its glorious splendor. I had to put my foot in a boot, and for the next few weeks, I moseyed around on crutches and a boot. Eventually, after some time, my bone healed. It took some time, but it healed.
The other day I was walking around and felt a faint tinge in my right foot. My foot is healed, but it still hurts sometimes. Unless, for some miraculous reason, your name happens to be Superman, you are not impervious to the pains and trials life throws at you. It doesn’t take living too long before you realize that this world is not perfect and the other folks God has surrounded us with are not either. Day after day goes by, and like a hail storm, we are bombarded with this hurt or that, emotional, psychological, or maybe even physical. And then one day you meet Jesus, and you hear about the One Whom they call Healer. Hopeful, you cast your cares on Him. You are healed. Joy and excitement fill your heart, the solution to your pain and problems has been found! A few days, weeks, or even years go by, and something happens. It can be scary because old feelings, old lusts, old hurts that you thought were healed and gone suddenly begin to creep back in. You start to question your conversion or maybe even God Himself. You wonder if you really were healed. Fear, doubt, and questioning become your daily norm and the fear of losing what you thought you had gained haunts your every move. Don’t worry, you’re normal. You see, just because you were healed doesn’t mean you still won’t hurt sometimes. Jesus, our Salvation, the One Who died so that we could be healed, even today bears the scars of His crucifixion in His hands. The scars are proof of the healing…proof of the salvation that was purchased. Your scars, those phantom pains, are not signs of a lack of healing. My pain is a reminder that I am healed. Just because you’re healed doesn’t mean you won’t hurt sometimes. May your scars be a reminder of His scars.
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 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." -Philippians 2:5 My wife and I were in a little marriage class at our church the other night. The speaker was talking about different lenses we sometimes use when looking at our spouses. Some are selfish, others self-righteous, and others conditional and performance based. He exhorted us instead to have grace-based lenses. That got me thinking about the lenses and filters we use in our day to day lives. Are we seeing people, situations, world events, with the eyes of Jesus? Are we zooming in on insignificant things to the neglect of the significant? Are we seeing a speck in our neighbor’s eye when we have a log sticking out of our own? What a challenge for us all...to see like Jesus.
I’m reminded of the words of the old hymn, “turn your eyes upon Jesus...” But as we look out into the world and deal with our day to day lives—we’re not monks in a desert monastery after all—let us seek to see others the way Jesus sees them. This is no easy task and is impossible in our own strength, but the Holy Spirit will help us, if we but ask Him. “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion...” -Matthew 9:36 |
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