Healing

Key Takeaways

Healing is comprehensive.
Jesus' healing addresses the whole person: spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, and mental. Everything broken by sin and its consequences is within the scope of what he came to restore.
Healing requires surrender.
Receiving healing means releasing control, trusting Jesus to define what we need healing from, and accepting that we cannot dictate the timing or shape of his work.
Healing comes through multiple means.
God can work through miracles, medicine, and the slow process of mending over time through counseling, safe relationships, grief, and care. All of these reflect his compassion for whole people.
Healing is never only for yourself.
The telos (end goal) of healing is not self-improvement. It is to glorify God and participate in his mission to bring restoration to others and to the world.
Jesus bore wounding so we could receive healing.
Jesus knew that laying down his life was the only way to address the deepest disease of all, and by his wounds, we are healed.

Study Questions

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that "it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society." In what ways might your own definition of health be shaped more by cultural norms than by what Jesus calls us to?
John 5 records Jesus healing one man among a multitude of sick people without explaining why. How do you wrestle with the reality that God's healing does not always come in the timing or form we expect, and what does trust look like in that tension?
Jesus deliberately heals the man on the Sabbath and tells him to carry his mat, essentially starting a conflict with the religious authorities. What does this tell us about how Jesus' priorities when it comes to human wholeness and institutional religious expectations?
Tim Keller prayed for healing from stage four pancreatic cancer while also acknowledging that God was not obligated to grant it. How does holding together bold prayer and deep trust shape the way you bring your own unresolved suffering before God?
Jesus tells the healed man to "sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you," pointing to a moral and spiritual dimension of healing beyond the physical. How does this challenge or expand your understanding of what it means to be made whole?

Seeking God’s Face Devotional

This year, we’ll be using the devotional “Seeking God’s Face” for our personal daily discipleship.

This Week’s Liturgy

Call to worship

Psalm 30:2-4

Leader: O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

All: Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

Confession of FAITH

New City Catechism Q & A #42

Q: How is the Word of God to be read and heard?

A: With diligence, preparation, and prayer; so that we may accept it with faith, store it in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.

Confession of sin

Healing God, we know that you are the one true physician and yet we live as if your healing is not enough for us. Help us to trust in your healing, as we deeply need more of it. Forgive us for trying to define how you should heal us and for not trusting you. We confess that we cannot comprehend the depths of our own need for healing. Humble us and teach us to receive your healing, so we may be an instrument of healing in your kingdom. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.