Brow beating Christians.
You know I often find that conversations between Christians often tend to be combative. I’ve often wondered why we get from “hello to a full on preaching session within seconds. I know iron sharpens iron right? Actually it may if one piece is harder than the other. But Some think this involves knocking chunk’s of each other and what sharpens our faith and makes us stronger people for the Lord but what it actually does is alienates people, hurts people and leaves them feeling un listened to. Paul said that we should walk the way of love and to build up not tare down and if all we ever do is build relationships around finding weaknesses in each other’s understanding of Scripture then we missed it. To disciple, Jesus Christ walked beside. He lead, he spoke, he showed and we followed. Paul; said “follow me as i follow Christ. He was the example he didn’t just talk about it. What we are being lead to follow in modern Church life is how to talk at people as though we are better than them, more righteous, more learned and somehow expect that they will grow just because of our words. I have come to realize that words without substance is not good. Excessive words are for them who have no fruit and they have no fruit because they have no root. It’s all fluff and surface stuff like a puff pastry with no real bite to it. in some cases it’s a zeal without knowledge and what might seem like iron sharpening iron might just be a case of convincing someone to believe or adopt your view point instead of trying understand theirs. There are a lot of scriptures in the bible yet steering someone towards a set of scriptures just because we like them and in our opinion or big headedness we think its what they need to hear without actually engaging in honest communication is just like iron bludgeoning a different metal. Zeal for something without accurate knowledge can be a bad thing.
Jesus saved his harshest and you could say bludgeoning blows for the religious but for those who were soft he was gentle. a smoking read he would not quench. do we even discern who it is and the type of person were talking too? People don’t want to know how much you know till they see how much you care. In many cases we say, “go in peace, be fed and Jesus loves you with out the demonstration of it.
This topic today came out of a conversation with a Christian who seemed to think quoting scripture is standing on the word. He seems to rattle off verses as though he’s a walking bible, whilst its somethin i struggle to do. If the lord brings up a verse for me he doesn’t say “romans chapter 6 verse 4. he just gives me the scripture the relates to the situation I’m currently facing. perhaps he was well meaning? It was inference to a bad back that he prayed for and i still ofttimes get it because I’m lifting heavy timber around whilst i build my family something to live in other than a caravan. he has said a few times he should help me with it but he never actually does. Should i quote the scripture that its better to not make an promise you don’t intend to keep or if you know to do good but don’t then it is sin? Asking weather my back stays healed on the basis of what I’m able to believe in faith to me seems like a cop out. After all Lazarus was healed and made alive again. did he have faith to be healed? No he was dead. It was the faith of Jesus that healed him. the guy who’s friends lowered him through the roof in front of Jesus couldn’t get there on his own. it took the combined faith of his friends to believe for his healing. I’ve prayed for things many times and seen the fruit of those prayers. Am i weak in faith for God to heal them? One man in the bible said “i believe, help my unbelief. we could have the the faith to move mountains if but a little seed and yet do we see them moving? Jesus also remarked on one occasion when talking about his return, “will i find faith upon the earth?
So the scripture says “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17. So the religious leaders of the day had the word but still no faith. In fact it was considered to be of no use to them because they didn’t combine it with faith. They had the word but didn’t believe it or the promises it made. many people heard Jesus saying things, being the word made flesh but not many were healed because of their lack of faith so if it was only hearing the word that gave you faith then the word failed them. I’ve heard it said that it was the rhema word not the logos, meaning it had to be Gods breathed word, the specific word for the specific situation. not just the general written word which would likely just be considered knowledge. There was something personal about it. Without the Holy Spirit empowering it you just have, especially in our case, English words translated from the original texts. So if faith doesn’t come by hearing the written word where does it come from?
The bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hebrews 11:1 “perhaps it’s my lack of hope that robs me of faith to be healed from a bad back i constantly miss use because i have no help to carry the heavy timbers I’m building with? Not according to some Christian people i know. Its my lack of faith to be healed not the heavy work. The bible doesn’t minimize a person having times of illness even as a believer. Timothy, a close companion of the Apostle Paul, suffered from frequent stomach issues and other ailments (1 Timothy 5:23). Paul advised him to drink a little wine instead of only water, likely for medicinal reasons. Trophimus, a Gentile believer and travel companion of Paul, was left behind in Miletus due to illness (2 Timothy 4:20). Epaphroditus, a messenger from the Philippian church, became seriously ill to the point of death while serving alongside Paul (Philippians 2:25–30). Yet in other places when someone was sick it was a sign of sin. When Jesus encountered a man blind from birth, His disciples assumed his condition was due to sin—either his own or his parents’ (John 9:2) and in john 5:14 after healing the man at the pool where the angel stirred the water Jesus said “See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. So ones illness may not just be because of Sin, lack of faith, a sign from God as to his healing power or anything of a spiritual nature but that of getting old.
When i started this post i felt like having a moan more than anything but from it i have the ability to see that my back issues could and should be healed on the basis of faith that I’m struggling to have because perhaps i doubt Gods power, which i don’t. Am just getting old and have abused my body for too long doing heavy work or I’m sinning or a thorn in the flesh has been given to me. What’s most plausible? Some people i know are of the blab it and grab it camp. If in the word it says “by his stripes you are healed then to not have healing for everything means you lack faith. They are the proclaimers who say “its in the word so it must be true. Context really doesn’t always matter that much. Am i looking for a reason to not be healed? The man by the pool was asked by Jesus, “don’t you want to be made well? The man gave him the excuse and perhaps a valid reason as to why he wasn’t healed. But i think Jesus was speaking into something much deeper than that and perhaps we will never know. ‘He must have had faith, one would suggest because he was healed at Jesus word yet his faith was placed in the moving of the waters not in Jesus. I have met or seen people in church giving testimonies about how God healed them from one thing or another. Some people never even asked for the healing they received. They just noticed that they were healed from something at a meeting or event or during a service.
But I’m of the opinion and believe that if the Holy Spirit spoke to me a word from the Lord and said, “by his stripes you are healed, then i would be healed. Not because of my personal faith level and not just because there is a scripture for it. But because of the one who said it. My faith is not placed on scripture as such but on the word made flesh. The living word. Anyway i know that I’m trying to push through in my own understanding on my position for healing of my back. On one hand its an age related thing and on another it could be healed and my belief that its age related could signify that i believe more that its likely to remain that way until an operation fixes it rather than the Lord healing it. Or perhaps those Christians who have suggested that they should help me with the work, on several occasions should actually should do so. I will leave it there i think un resolved for now because i cannot heal myself, although it has been suggested to me that we can as we take authority over our own bodies. Why did Jesus say “no doubt you will quote this saying physician heal yourself Luke 4:23.
Was Jesus sick in some way? The bible says he carried our infirmities. was there evidence of that? or did he only suffer on the cross? Perhaps once again these are things i will not discover for now. God bless you all.
No responses yet