why healing?

Rich Nathan in his March congregational email outlines why the church needs to recover the practice of healing.

"And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction." - Mt 10.1

Why do we need to practice healing?

1. Healing is a sign that God's Kingdom has broken into this world in Jesus. The coming of Jesus was more than an event that made the forgiveness of sins possible. Jesus' coming included the forgiveness of sins – but forgiveness does not exhaust the meaning of his coming. The coming of Jesus was more than an event that opens up heaven for all who trust him. The coming of Jesus was more than great ethical teaching, more than the formation of a new community called the Church and more than a model of how we are to live.

In Jesus of Nazareth, the world experienced (and continues to experience) the dawning of a new age, the age of forgiveness, the age of God being with his people, the age of healing. This new age was prophesied about in the Old Testament and sought for millennia. But in Christ, a new age for our universe has begun. Healing is demonstrated evidence that this claim by Christians is not an empty boast but a verifiable fact!

2. Healing demonstrates the compassionate heart of God. Where is God when we suffer? Does God care about our pain? Is God really a loving, kind father in heaven? Over and over again, we see the heart of God demonstrated in the healings of Jesus. From Luke 7:12-15, when Jesus heals through his people, we know what God is like – kind, loving and compassionate. (God visits His people! and the response is to glorify Him)

3. Healing is a frontal assault on a non-supernatural world-view. We live in a world that does not expect any break in the inevitable chain of cause and effect. God is simply not an anticipated factor in someone getting well. We believe in medicine, in therapy, and in the body's own curative powers, but God breaking in and healing? No way! Healing is a major assault on our worldviews that wall God out.

4. Healing demonstrates God's concern for our total persons. God is not just interested in religion or churchgoing. He is interested in our schools and political systems and recreation. And God is not just interested in our souls; he is interested in our bodies as well! As one Christian leader put it, "There is no atom in the universe over which God doesn't say, 'This is mine.'"

5. Healing welcomes people back into community. When we are sick, we become isolated in our homes, in hospital rooms, and in wheelchairs. Illness often cuts us off from normal interactions, from work and from friendships. Healing opens the door to recovered relationship.

I cannot add to this.

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