Category: Pastor’s Corner

“A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up.” Ecclesiastes 3:3
“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Healing or to heal: to become sound or healthy again.

It would be fair to say that most of us have experienced some kind of brokenness or an illness in our lives. Something that ought not to be, or a defect that needs correction. The past few months I have been learning how my physical heart is not what it should be, but that due to a defect, is broken. The only remedy was to replace the broken part and then to allow the body to heal with the goal of full restoration. Though it was explained to me, what to expect, I did not know from experience what that would be like. There are many lessons one can learn from an event like this, here are a few things that stand out to me. Healing takes time, healing often includes pain and I can help or hinder the healing process.

Healing takes time. The past few weeks have been a process and a journey. I’ve learned a lot about how the body is able to heal itself and what it takes for that to happen. We live in a
society that expects to have instant progress, quick solutions and three easy steps to a better life. Healing does not work that way; it can take a long time for that which was broken to be restored to wholeness. Jesus is the example and the exception to this; in the Gospels we see Him perform healings in a moment. He interrupts the normal, the natural and exerts His power to bring wholeness to that which is broken. He did that with us, when He finished His work on the cross. One act of trust in Him and we are healed from all of our spiritual brokenness and are made whole with Him. Yet we often find areas of life that He through His Spirit, takes time to restore and in that process, we are drawn closer to Him. His desire is for us to know Him intimately. That is true healing.

Healing includes pain. I can say that though a new valve was placed in my heart and what was broken was corrected, the pain of healing is very real and intense. As bone knits together, as muscles that have been cut reconnect and nerves regrow there is pain involved. It’s expected and is not enjoyable but through the pain, endurance and patience are developed. You learn to appreciate even the small achievements, like putting your own socks on, and begin to be thankful for the progress that is made. Even in the midst of pain I have felt the comfort of the Lord and the prayers of His people. There are times that God desires to remove something that is hindering our growth, whether it is sin in our lives, a habit, an attitude or wrong thinking. This can be painful as we submit to the Healers hand and see that which had once seemed so valuable become loss when compared to the immense value of knowing Christ.

I can help or hinder the healing process. It’s a matter of yieldedness and obedience. If I trust
the doctors, the nurses and the medical staff I’ll do what they say, even if it brings more
discomfort. I am told that I need to exercise and do my breathing exercises. I’m told to sleep on my back as that will allow the sternum to heal. These actions bring a certain amount of pain and discomfort and involve effort when I’m fatigued. But if I’m faithful to do them, they will help my recovery to proceed at a proper rate. If I don’t, then I risk not healing as I should and even may bring about more complications. We are told to renew our minds, to put off the old and to put on the new. We are admonished throughout scripture to walk in obedience and to yield to the leading of the Spirit. If we do this we will heal and grow. If we don’t, we will find ourselves becoming weaker and more distant from our Saviour. We never lose our salvation but our growth and fellowship with Jesus will be stunted and dry. We will find ourselves even regressing and in worse shape than when we started. Though the power for healing comes from outside of ourselves we certainly play a part in the process as we walk in dependence and obedience.

I’m sure there will be many more days ahead of me in this healing process. Some will seem
long and I may wonder if I’ll be completely healed. But I also know that I don’t walk alone and that no matter the physical outcome, what my loving Savior is doing with the inner man will be accomplished.

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, and Phil. 1:6   For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it] by the day of Christ Jesus” II Cor. 4;16-17

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:2-12

Have you ever lived in a two-story house? I did for many years of my life. Upstairs had bedrooms, a bathroom and maybe a sewing room or an office. Access to the attic was also from this space. Downstairs we had our living room, dining room, kitchen, and entryway. Upstairs was intended for sleeping, bathing and getting ready for the day. The downstairs was where daytime living occurred, meals were prepared and served, times of being together as a family took place, and in general “life” happened downstairs. Even though there were two different floors and each had its own set of purposes, it was considered one house and home. What took place upstairs had real impact on what happened downstairs. The same people that spent time upstairs were also the same people who spent time downstairs. They did not think of themselves as living in two different spaces but one home. They were the same upstairs as downstairs. Yet in our everyday lives we often act and live as though we are existing in two different worlds. One is sacred, and the other is secular as our culture often tells us. But the issue we must face is, is it  true? Does this upstairs, downstairs life really exist and work in our everyday existence?

Francis Schaeffer presented this metaphor in his book “Escape From Reason”. In it he shared that in our western worldview, two realms exist. The upper floor is where faith, morality and meaning, or “the sacred”, reside. The lower floor is where we find facts, science, and public life. This division between the two realms creates a life that is fragmented and incoherent. We see this emphasized whenever the view of “separation between church and state” is declared by our culture. We also see it as we go to church on Sunday, hold our faith and life with God as a private affair, and then live the rest of the week with no serious consideration for our life with Christ. 

What happens when we live like this? First, it is not reality as God defines it. It is a falsehood and breeds much confusion. As was stated before, we become fragmented and incoherent. We are unstable in our ways as we attempt to live and conduct ourselves while serving two masters. 

James 1:2-12 teaches us how we are to live in a world that is going to bring suffering and trials. We all go through various trials and difficulties in our lives. Just because we are Christians does not exempt us from suffering. Notice that James says “when you encounter various trials”, rather than if you encounter them. Trials will come. So, what should our attitude be? James says consider it joy. The word, count or consider, is the Greek word Hēgeomai from which we get the English word hegemony. This word carries the idea of rule, leadership, or authority. Here we are to literally “lead before the mind”, to take control of our mindset, for it to be one of total joy. This is the point of view one has when trials or temptations come. Total joy, not a partial joy or temporary joy but total. The kind of joy that Christ looked to while despising the shame He would endure on the cross. Why? Because He saw the glory His Father would receive, the salvation His sacrifice would provide and God’s triumph over sin and death. For the believer, God’s word promises that testing produces endurance or steadfastness which in turn brings us into maturity over time. This is a Biblical worldview and is one seen through the eye of faith. Not a view of a life that “lives upstairs” on Sundays and then is abandoned when one goes “downstairs” and into the world for the rest of the week, but it is consistent no matter when or where one finds themselves.

In this example James writes that there will be times when you will need wisdom when trials come, to understand ‘how’ to count it all joy at such a time. James shares that if any of us lacks wisdom, to ask God for wisdom and He will most certainly give it to you! But and this is key; you must ask trusting in Him alone and not with an eye towards the answers the world wants to give. This creates instability as we are tossed around like waves on the ocean driven by the wind. This is like living with an upstairs and a downstairs mentality. You are double-minded, unstable because you don’t know which way the wind is blowing. But trusting in God alone for wisdom, not with a plan B, provides stability and continuity for your life as you face these trials.

James completes his thoughts with two examples of what this looks like. The man of humble circumstances is to live in light of his high position as God’s son with all the rights and privileges that comes with it. The rich man is to live understanding that what he has will certainly fade away as it belongs to this earth and not to trust in it for security, status, or honor. His position is the same as the poor man before God as a believer: a son. Both examples require faith, and each man can consider or count it all joy when trials come that they are destined for great things and that what they endure will strengthen and mature them. So, to answer our question we asked earlier – does this upstairs, downstairs life really exist and work in our everyday existence? The answer is no. It is unrealistic to believe that the sacred and the secular are separate, it is all sacred. This is living in one home with one mindset, one faith in one Lord who is over all and in all.

Paula had the opportunity a few years ago to take her favorite husband on a trip, just the two of us. We have had an occasional night or two away, but this was the first real vacation we had set out on alone, since the honeymoon 43 years ago.

Part of the tour was planned to introduce her to places in the Upper Peninsula that I considered noteworthy, before we would explore together other areas neither of us had been to before. One region we visited was the Keweenaw Peninsula. We wandered its length, taking in beautiful scenery, lake view vistas, and a few historical spots from the boom days of mining. We enjoyed a picnic at Copper Harbor’s public launch, where we were the only visitors, save for a pair of Loons (Red Throated?) paddling in the cove and calling out between dives with their distinctive lonely wail. It was perfect. 

I was impressed with a repeated sight at several of the mining ruins in the peninsula. This was the immense “poor rock” piles; the detritus left nearby the mine openings, hauled out by the ton in the process of extraction. If you were going for copper, you had to expel a lot of useless material to get to the profitable ore.

I think of that sight, and how it illustrates to me the process of refinement in a believer’s life. The purifying is not a quick and easy experience.

Much debris has to be pulled out of the way in our lives, in order to present that which ultimately will be useful for refinement. For the follower of Christ, spiritually crippling things need to be cast off, as the teaching of the Lord in Mark 9:43-48 declares. Some worthless things just need to be removed, plainly and quickly, even radically. Yet other things, like the ore that holds potential riches, need processing, refining, cleansing and purifying through the application of fire.

Our Lord speaks to this as I continue reading in Mark: “For everyone will be salted with fire.”    Mark 9:49 (NASB)

My view on this teaching from Jesus considers what God shares about “fire” in His Word. Fire can be awful; fearsome. Consider both the unquenchable fire for unbelievers (:43-48) and the burning up of unprofitable works for the believer who lapsed in obedience to His Master (1 Cor. 3:11-15). Yet fire can also be a positive, purifying thing, as the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers (Luke 3:16). See also Prov. 17:3; Psalm 66:10; Job 23:10; Rev. 3:18.

In mining, the ore removed for smelting has no choice in the matter. It receives what man determines to do. But in our lives, the choice of rejection or cooperation with the Spirit of God seems to be the pivot. That is, our continual cleansing (by being salted with purifying fire) must first find our yieldedness to accept the fire. Let me illustrate:

Like many of us, I have an ongoing issue with skin pre-cancers and cancers. Monitoring is frequent. Some treatments I can do at home. With rechecks, the areas that did not respond to rounds of chemo cream (relatively painless) then require a more radical treatment—surgery—to be employed. Depending on the type of cancer, it may well call for biopsy and probable surgery without delay; there is no option for a “home kit” for these.

The common factor in every instance is my willingness to take the “fire” of treatment in order to kill that which could kill me. If I choose to ignore, or postpone, or treat with my own system (no, Windex did not work…) then I have consequences that come from that stance.

In our lives, if we reject the work of the Spirit’s refining, we wallow in sin to our own detriment. The challenge is to receive His fire as good, though it will involve pain. He will reshape our priorities, deepen our love for our gracious Lord, and move us closer to Him. It will be new life for our conscience, new freedom to walk in for witness and proclamation, and a lightness that only comes through the clarity of serving one Master. We will be satisfied in Him as the things of this world “grow strangely dim.”

As we come nearer, we will want nothing but Him, His Word, and His Spirit’s work. We will learn how good it is to embrace His fire, salted on us.

May we run to, and embrace, that purifying flame.