“Those Who Are Healthy Do Not Need a Physician” By Melanie Rigney

“Those Who Are Healthy Do Not Need a Physician” By Melanie Rigney

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Thus says the LORD:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
    false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
    and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
    and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
    and give you plenty even on the parched land. (Isaiah 58:9-11)

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. (Psalm 86:11ab)

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” (Luke 5:31-32)

Piety

Lord, remove that log from my eye so that You may heal me.

Study

I was watching the video for the next Bible study session, and frankly, I was bored. The speaker kept talking about the evil one knowing the best place to attack, how we’re afraid to suffer the way Christ did, all in, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. It was me in a different place and time, sure, but not today. And I wondered how often she was going to relive the experiences she was sharing in this study, experiences that occurred years earlier.

And then she started down the path of busyness. You probably know the kind—where you keep so busy because you don’t want the old tapes to play, you don’t want to let up for a second because you know evil will mine that opportunity for all it’s worth if you do. The problem, the speaker opined, is that you shut out redemptive suffering at the same time.

All of a sudden, she had my complete attention.

Busyness is one of my sicknesses and probably the most visible to me and others. Having x number of writing projects, x number of editing or speaking gigs, x number of obligations, well, that’s fueled me for longer than I can remember. The pandemic pushed some of that busyness to the side. Resolve and the ability, finally, to say no have pushed others to the side. There’s more room for God these days, and sometimes that scares me.

Your sickness may not be as visible, but I am sure it is there because you are human. If you call yourself healthy and not in need of the Master Physician, it only shows your need for Him. Resolve this Lent to let Him heal some part of you, regardless of how much you fear the treatment. Pray for the faith to accept the cure.

Action

Embrace the suffering that accompanies spiritual perfecting.

 

Image is by congerdesign via Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/cross-nail-symbol-wood-old-woods-3080144/