Today’s Readings: Psalm 63; Isaiah 40:9-11; Matthew 7:28-8:4; 1 John 2:18-23; Psalm 66
One thing I’ve learned over the years is this simple, yet profound truth: in order to get better, you need to want to get better. Now some folks might hear this and interpret it only in one realm – that is, within the realm of a person’s physical health. Within that context, they’d say, “Of course a sick person would want to have their physical health restored. Who wouldn’t want to get better?!” It’s when we move beyond the realm of physical afflictions into emotional and spiritual ailments that things get a little trickier in terms of wanting healing. And why is that? Well, I suppose it’s because it’s much harder to realize an attitude is unhealthy than it is for us to realize our body is unhealthy. Let me give you a couple examples. Let’s say a person was raised in an abusive household. As a result of the abuse, the person learns a lesson that pulls them through the difficult circumstance: they learn never to be vulnerable to another human being. While that attitude may have gotten them through the period of abuse, that same attitude can make for a difficult life if held on to for the rest of one’s life. Or let’s say a person enters their very first relationship with an open heart and spirit, and the person’s partner cheats on him or her. What happens? The person says, “I’ll never trust again” – and goes through life refusing to trust another. As a result, they go from one unfulfilling relationship to another over the course of their lifetime. In each of these examples, it’s extremely difficult for the person to seeking healing in their life because they identify these damaging attitudes as positive things that have served the individual well. In other words, they have a difficult time offering up the simple sentiment that the leper offered up in today’s passage from Matthew: “If you want to, you can make me well.” Today, I would encourage you to take some time and see if you have an area of your emotional or spiritual life that you think might be able to stand a little work: an area that you’ve been content to simply hold on to past attitudes or ways of being no matter how counterproductive they might be. Once you find that area, you too can lift up that simple yet profound expression of faith: “If you want to…” Til next time…
One thing I’ve learned over the years is this simple, yet profound truth: in order to get better, you need to want to get better. Now some folks might hear this and interpret it only in one realm – that is, within the realm of a person’s physical health. Within that context, they’d say, “Of course a sick person would want to have their physical health restored. Who wouldn’t want to get better?!” It’s when we move beyond the realm of physical afflictions into emotional and spiritual ailments that things get a little trickier in terms of wanting healing. And why is that? Well, I suppose it’s because it’s much harder to realize an attitude is unhealthy than it is for us to realize our body is unhealthy. Let me give you a couple examples. Let’s say a person was raised in an abusive household. As a result of the abuse, the person learns a lesson that pulls them through the difficult circumstance: they learn never to be vulnerable to another human being. While that attitude may have gotten them through the period of abuse, that same attitude can make for a difficult life if held on to for the rest of one’s life. Or let’s say a person enters their very first relationship with an open heart and spirit, and the person’s partner cheats on him or her. What happens? The person says, “I’ll never trust again” – and goes through life refusing to trust another. As a result, they go from one unfulfilling relationship to another over the course of their lifetime. In each of these examples, it’s extremely difficult for the person to seeking healing in their life because they identify these damaging attitudes as positive things that have served the individual well. In other words, they have a difficult time offering up the simple sentiment that the leper offered up in today’s passage from Matthew: “If you want to, you can make me well.” Today, I would encourage you to take some time and see if you have an area of your emotional or spiritual life that you think might be able to stand a little work: an area that you’ve been content to simply hold on to past attitudes or ways of being no matter how counterproductive they might be. Once you find that area, you too can lift up that simple yet profound expression of faith: “If you want to…” Til next time…
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