I Can Eat Anything? ...

Clean versus Unclean … have the rules changed?  To begin, we need to understand extremes so that subtleties make more sense.  Assuming the new rule is that I can eat or drink anything – then it would be permissible to brew up a batch of Clorox soup.  It would be fatal, but permissible.  It would be stupid but permissible.  It lacks all common sense, therefore easily falls into the extreme’s category.  But what about eating duck versus chicken, or pork versus beef?  Sorry to be the harbinger of “bad” news but the same logic applies.  If it is permissible to eat things that are bad for us – even though it may prove fatal over time, and it may prove stupid over time.  Then is “permissibility” the true standard we should be aiming for, or is intelligent choices a better route to go?  As for Biblical permissibility there are a few interesting ideas to keep in mind.  God does not change (nor do His admonitions and laws).  God tells us what is good for us, because He LOVES us, not because He is trying to make our lives miserable.  Adam was given counsel about what to eat, and way back then, there were things he and Eve were not supposed to eat.  Disobeying that initial dietary counsel had profound negative impacts, even though it did not immediately kill them both.

At the point of the flood, a conveniently ignored fact in most Hollywood movies of this event, is that the animals considered “clean” by God to eat, entered the ark in groups of seven, NOT two by two.  God knew that our need of “clean” meat would / should exceed our “need” of unclean.  So the post-flood era would begin with a larger “herd” of the clean animals than the unclean.  Israel under Moses was re-given the councils with regards to diet, as father-to-son traditions had broken down by then.  So it was written down.  The faithful Israelites even in captivity by Nebuchadnezzar refused “unclean” foods, in addition foods offered to other gods.  And when Jesus arrives, his diet is simple and kosher.  Jesus enjoys pressed grapes to drink (unfermented as the language of earlier Biblical manuscripts reveal).  He also enjoys the foods served at traditional feasts, lamb, fish, pita bread, olives, oil, vinegar and simple herbs.  His example is not one of extravagance or of changing the dietary prescriptions that existed for 4000 years.  At the end of all things, it is hard to imagine that in heaven, we will still be killing God’s creations, in order to keep our thirst for meat alive.  I seem to recall something about “death itself” being cast into that lake of fire and being consumed (i.e. no more death). 

So considering that our Creator had a reason for us to segregate into our diet, clean things, and unclean things – He loves us – and He would know – Why would He change His own rules later on, when conditions in our world would only be worse?  Even the practice of animal sacrifice ended at the first coming of the Messiah (the Lamb of the world).  Hard to imagine that elective killing would be encouraged, let alone expanding that practice into animals He knows are not good for us.  There is however another way to examine the clean versus unclean question.  As crazy as it sounds, how about how “clean” you are when you sit down to eat?  If you work in an office doing “indoor” work, the chances of you getting filthy are probably limited.  So when your lunch break arrives, if you open up your sack take out a sandwich and begin eating, you probably start this meal fairly clean.  The invention of hand sanitizer bolsters that.

However, if you work outdoors, and if your work requires you to touch things that don’t exactly build an appetite in you – then perhaps cleaning up before you eat is a better practice.  This is not a rules thing.  This is simply a common-sense thing.  You wash car grease off your hands before you grab that sandwich because you do not want to taste car grease while you eat.  Same for a dozen other professions where it makes more sense to clean your hands before you eat.  This was the case back in the days of Jesus, and for centuries before that.  But the Pharisees were not content to stay with common sense ideas.  They took the common sense and made it uncommon and excessive.  Then they made that tradition.  Then they made that part of their law.  If it was a good idea to wash your hands once before eating, why not do it twice just to make sure?  And if 2 times was better, why not 3?  And over time washing becomes a full-time activity.  So it was in the days of Jesus.

In his gospel to the Hebrews Matthew discusses an incident in chapter fifteen where the Pharisees tried to use the failure of the disciples from not washing their hands before a meal, as a failure of following the law.  But Jesus instructed them that tradition is not the same as His Law, and their doctrine was in error.  This was not meant to be a wholesale endorsement of never cleaning yourself up before you eat.  Let’s face it, foot washing was not just a meaningless tradition back then, it was done to kill the ugly odor of feet in a room before you sat down to eat.  But Jesus was trying to make a point that failing to wash up is not a cardinal sin.  On this topic Matthew recalls the discussion picking up in verse 10 saying … “And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: [verse 11] Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”

This profound statement was no more about clean and unclean meats as it was about throwing up as being a sin.  This was about taking common sense, creating tradition out of it, then elevating that tradition to being equal with God’s law.  Man does not get to do that.  We are not the same as God.  And what comes out of a man’s mouth (i.e. what he says, and usually what he does that follows that speech of intent) is not predetermined by his diet, or how clean his hands were before he eats.  Washing your hands 5 times before you eat does not make your heart any more loving – it may even have the opposite effect of being annoyed at a God you believed requires this of you.  The hands of the Pharisees who presumably followed this tradition were clean, yet stained with the blood of Christ they intended to, and then did, kill.  The connection was not there.  And while God’s dietary prescriptions of clean and unclean remain, these prescriptions were designed for our well-being because He loves us.  Staying to a kosher diet however, does not make you sinless either.  Making good dietary choices does not keep your heart free from sin, any more than eating Clorox soup does (though you won’t have long to think about how stupid a choice that was after doing it).

But as predictable as the seasons, the Pharisees were pissed off at this revelation.  So much so, that the disciples could visibly see it in them.  They felt the need to warn Jesus about it.  Matthew continues in verse 12 saying … “Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? [verse 13] But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. [verse 14] Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”  Yikes!!  This response should reach into your heart and shake it to the roots.  Forget the Pharisees, this has a direct meaning to you and I.  Jesus says every plant (note the absence of meat … just saying) – which my Father has not planted shall be rooted up.  Think about this in terms of modern Christianity.  The Pharisees were the church leaders of their day in the “right” church.  But they were not planted by God.  You or I may be a church leader, or church member of what we believe is the right church today – but NOT be planted by God.

Instead we are planted by tradition, by following our guidelines and standards, by believing in scripture.  All the while we have never had a personal experience with Jesus.  We refuse to submit our will to His, just like our Pharisee forefathers, and we deceive ourselves that we are part of the “in crowd” where it comes to the kingdom of heaven.  Yet we are far from it.  We are destined to be rooted up.  The next thing Jesus says is “let them alone”.  This is scarier still.  The disciples who have the truth, because they know the Truth – are instructed to leave the Pharisees alone, i.e. don’t waste your time on them.  Could our certainty of who we are, and what we believe be so cemented in our minds, that people around us with the Truth cannot break through to us?  Have we embraced our blindness through our certainty so strongly that we will refuse to let it go, even when the Truth stands in front of us, because it does not conform with what we already believe?  In so doing we are blind, leading other blind, right into the ditch, and nowhere near His kingdom.

Peter is nervous.  He senses there may be a real problem here with beliefs he has long held to.  So he wants a little more clarification.  What an excellent idea!!!  Would it not be awesome, if we would let go of our certainty and instead keep asking Jesus for a little more clarification.  Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. [verse 16] And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? [verse 17] Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?”  Part one of the response of Jesus begins by discussing our digestive process.  What we eat goes into our stomach and comes out in our poo.  It has nothing to do with how we love.  Of course this does not mean we get to eat Clorox soup because that would be bad for us, and Jesus loves us too much to see us eat such things.  The same could be said for unclean foods that take longer to kill us, or harm us, and Jesus would still want us to avoid them.  But eating something stupid still does not have an immediate effect on how you love.  Consuming a little dirt on your hands wont either.

Jesus continues  in verse 18 saying … “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. [verse 19] For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: [verse 20] These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”  And there it is.  What we say, expresses an intent of our heart.  And those intentions, and motives, are what defile us.  The last part of verse 20 should clarify specifically that “not” washing our hands does not defile us.  Especially washing our hands multiple times.  This entire passage in Matthew has NOT been about clean and unclean foods.  It has been about clean and unclean hands before we eat.  Those who would use this passage in an attempt to justify eating anything, are trying to get a pass on the admonitions of a God who loves you and wants only what is best for you.  Better to trash the bacon and trust the Lord, than to keep downing the bacon thinking your own dietary wisdom exceeds that of your God.  It doesn’t.

This passage is about surrendering your will to God, to Jesus, and letting Him adjust your desires whatever they may be.  Removing those intentions that are not the best; and replacing them with ones that are.  Developing tastes for foods that are good for you; and removing tastes for foods that are bent on destroying you.  Not focusing on the superficial of washing your hands and thinking you are clean, but instead having Jesus clean you from the inside out.  Changing your motives and teaching you how to love.  Will you hear?  Will you listen and understand?  Or have your already become the Pharisee, so certain in your likes and dislikes, and certain in your beliefs you will hear none other?

 

Passion of the Christ - Communion (part one) ...

After opening his gospel with a prologue, and spending a great deal of time discussing at length all of the miraculous witnesses to the divinity of Christ; John now turns his attention to the fulfillment of the ministry of the Messiah.  Though miracles would still be a significant part of the completion of the mission of Jesus, the idea of the magnitude of His sacrifice warrants our undivided attention.  The time of His mission was nearly complete.  He would only be with them a short while now.  The immediacy and the priority of what He must share with His few faithful companions, His friends as He called them, was now of paramount importance.  These final hours would be the thing most prevalent in their minds as events were about to unfold.  So only the most important truths must be shared.  Everything else could wait, everything else could be discovered later, or revealed by the work of the Holy Spirit.  What He must share with His disciples now, had to be what was of utmost importance as time was nearly at an end.  Against this backdrop, Jesus begins by sharing the most important thing between God and man, He shares communion.

Communion is more than a tradition of the newly established Christian church.  It is fellowship between God and man.  As time is nearly out, Christ takes precious moments to “be” with His disciples.  As He used to enjoy His walks with Adam and Eve in the Garden at sunset, and even set aside an entire day to be “Holy” just to be with us; so now He takes out a moment to simply “be” with His disciples.  They will eat, drink, and commune together.  From the point of view of the disciples this is a celebration of the feast of Passover.  From the point of view of the Messiah, this is the last meal He will ever enjoy with His disciples.  With all the burden that must come upon Him in just a few short hours, He makes time to be with His disciples and speak, and do, what is most important to them.  John sets the stage for us, in his gospel account beginning in chapter 13.  It is the time for the feast of Passover, but John puts his emphasis on the truth of the character of Christ.

He opens in verse 1 saying … “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”  The love of Christ never wavered.  He loved all of His disciples right up to the end of His life.  That love was paramount.  That love was the reason why He had come to our world.  Jesus did not restrict His love to only those disciples He knew would be faithful to Him in all things.  If He had so restricted it; who would have been left to enjoy the meal with Him?  For all deserted Him in His time of greatest need.  Judas was at this dinner.  Judas enjoyed this meal with His Lord like John, Peter, and all the rest of them.  Jesus did not restrict His love to Judas even knowing what Judas was about to do.  Nor did He restrict His love from Peter knowing how Peter would deny Him openly.  Both dined.  Both enjoyed the company of their Lord.

But John, with the benefit of hindsight, writes now what he knows about that night.  He continues in verse 2 … “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;”  Judas had too long refused to be changed by the Messiah he spent his every waking moment with.  His greed and avarice, and thirst for power and prominence had never given way to the simplicity of humble service that the life of Christ exemplified.  That life was not the one Judas wanted.  Judas wanted the life of a great leader.  He wanted the power and fame that comes from a position of authority.  He was not alone in his ambitions.  Right up to these moments the disciples often jockeyed for position in who would be the next greatest leader in the kingdom of Christ.  Judas was no different in that respect, if perhaps only in that he was more ambitious and more secretive about his own desires.  What he was not; was transformed.  He lacked the humility to be transformed.  He was “happy” with who he was, and only wanted more of it, not less.  In that respect, does he sound like the person in the mirror who stares back at you every day?  Are you so comfortable with “who” you are, that you believe you need no transformation into something else, something more humble, something resembling more of servant and less of a king?

Christ had a knowledge of the thoughts and desires of His disciples.  He knew that what Judas wanted was not so different than any of the others, though only Judas was willing to betray His Lord to acquire it.  John continues in verse 3 by revealing what Jesus knew … “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;”  His death is nearly upon Him.  His mission is nearly complete.  So does He finally accept the glory and praise He is due?  Does He seek out the people to praise Him, for the act of sacrifice He is about to perform for them?  Wouldn’t we?  We seek praise for our accomplishments.  We seek adoration when we do something good for others, if only to remind us of how good we are.  Yet Christ makes no such moves.  Instead John continues with what He does with time so short, and burden so high.

John relays in verse 4 … “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. [verse 5] After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”  He served.  He took upon Himself the most humiliating duty of a servant and performed this act of humility on those who SHOULD have done it for Him.  Their feet were dirty.  Their feet were smelly.  They had no Dr. Scholls to reduce the smell, or orthodic shoes to protect their feet from the dirt, mud, and animal waste they must walk upon.  They had only sandals of rough leather to protect them from dusty, rocky roads.  They had no chance to bath regularly, or rub oils on their feet, or keep themselves well maintained.  Yet Christ who considered Himself willing, was willing to wash and dry the feet of these men.  All of them.  Judas included as well as Peter.  Jesus stooped to serve the one who would choose to be His enemy.  He did not restrict His love from Judas, nor did He refrain from serving one who would choose to do evil.  Every opportunity would be offered to all who were there, regardless of what they would choose to do with the opportunity and love He offered.

It was a stark contrast in the minds of those who were only moments before thinking to themselves what greatness would be theirs in the kingdom He was sure to establish.  Here was their King, serving them in the most debasing of ways, the most humiliating.  A King who served?  Who had ever heard of such a thing?  This was too much for Peter to accept.  Peter says in verse 6 … “Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? [verse 7] Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”  Peter had to question this.  Peter thought it his place to remind the Lord that servants do this kind of work, not Kings.  If he accepted Jesus performing this act of humility upon him, it was like admitting that his own pride had kept him from even considering doing this kind of work.  Not an easy pill to swallow.  Jesus however, tells Peter that while he may not understand this act right now, it will become clear to him later as to why He would do it.  Peter responds in verse 8 … “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. …”  Peter response is “forget it” Lord.  I am not going to allow you to humiliate yourself or me in doing this kind of work.  In effect, Peter was too proud to accept that.

But the words of Christ in response were overwhelming as Jesus responds continuing in verse 8 … “… Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.”  Peter was blown away.  They were all just thinking about the establishment of the kingdom of Christ.  For him to have no part in it would be devastating.  Peter still does not understand why Christ would do this, but he will not risk becoming a power broker in the new anti-Roman kingdom Christ is surely about to setup.  So he quickly answers in verse 9 … “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”  If this is about cleanliness perhaps, then go ahead and give me a full bath.  Whatever it takes to be the number one general, or number one secretary of state, or number one chief council, just go ahead and do it Lord.  Ironically Peter was really asking to be the number one servant, but he just could not comprehend that yet, as Christ had just told him.

Jesus responds to Peter’s overdoing-it by saying in verse 10 … “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. [verse 11] For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”  Obviously none of them had recently bathed, nor was Christ trying to say that a literal clean-up of our feet can take the place of proper bath when it comes to cleanliness.  However, being served in humility, is by definition humiliating.  We are cleansed by a power outside of ourselves.  That fact is humiliating.  To admit we are unable to cleanse ourselves is not something most Christians are comfortable with, let alone non-believers.  Christians like to think they can remove the sins from themselves by their power, or determination, or abundance of good works.  They like to think that at the worst case, they are in a partnership with God, where the Christian does his best work first, and only THEN does God do “His part”.  But none of this is true.  The disciples feet did not clean themselves, they were not allowed to participate in the cleansing.  They did not even necessarily want to be clean or at least want it enough to do it to themselves, let alone for others.  The act of cleansing their most exposed and dirty part was done solely by Christ.  They were clean only as they allowed Him to clean them.  They had NO partnership.  They did NONE of the work.  Christ did it all.  All they did, was let Him.

With time for Christ as short as it was, He takes time out to eat and socialize and commune with His closest followers.  And now with time growing even shorter, He serves them all in the most humble of ways, taking the part of the lowest slave to do work, none of them would even consider.  This is the heart of our God.  This is the level of service He will do for us if we but let Him.  He will cleanse us from the filth we have embraced like a patient parent who cleans up his baby from an accident in going to the bathroom all over themselves.  Sin is that distasteful to God, but He cleans us up from it because He loves us that much.  And in this act of humility, Judas participates.  He allows Christ to wash his own feet as well.  But his heart is unmoved by it.  We may allow Christ to clean us, but we do not remain clean if we do not choose to do so.  Judas was only growing more indignant that this purported King would so humiliate Himself and them.  And Jesus recognizes Judas resistance to being made clean by a force outside of himself.  Thus He offers out loud to all of them, the idea, that one has not accepted the cleaning He is offering.

Now because it was still a mystery in the minds of those He had just served, Christ must explain to them why He did what He did.  Jesus asks in verse 12 … “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?”  Notice that it took Christ a minute to get his own clothing back on, and to sit back down at the table.  Notice too that no-one took the initiative to clean the feet of Christ with basin and towel.  Jesus continues in verse 13 … “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. [verse 14] If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. [verse 15] For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. [verse 16] Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. [verse 17] If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

First Jesus acknowledges that He is indeed their Lord and ours, the title is not lost on Him, or inaccurate in any way.  He is God after all.  For God to be willing to stoop to serve man, in the most humble of ways, should show us that we should not be reluctant to serve each other in equal humility.  Christ was not setting up a feet cleaning business, or stating the clean feet are the mark of His followers.  He was however plainly stating that no act of humble service from one to another is something we should think ourselves “above” doing.  Often we continue the tradition of feet washing in our churches in times of performing an ordinance of communion.  We follow the literal words of Christ, but lose the deeper meaning.  Washing another member of our churches feet, is a much different proposition today, when everyone is sure to have bathed and worn appropriate footwear for just such an event.  But to bring a member in need groceries without being asked, or even desired, is something we are more reluctant to do, as it might embarrass him or us in the process.  To take the initiative to serve another in tasks we consider unpleasant do not spring to mind.  We reserve our service for more convenient actions that require less of our time, and perhaps only more of our resources.  Digging a latrine in a mission is not considered “glory” work … by anyone other than God.  The message of Christ to us, is that when we love each other as He loved us, no act of service is beneath us.  No need should go un met if we can meet it.  And there is no room for pride in any part of the equation of love and service.

To wash each other’s feet in our day, can hardly breach the gulf of an entrenched pride that refuses to be made humble.  And there is ancestor who felt that same way.  One who had the benefit of the literal company of Christ, but would leave that very night to betray Him to His death.  Is it the path of Judas we follow?  Or is the path of our King, who put aside his garments, took basin and towel, and washed each of the feet of his disciples in the condition they were in?  There is nothing wrong with following the traditions and ordinance of humility our communion services offer.  But the heart of the transformed by Christ can hardly stop serving before or after such an event.  When the heart is transformed, it values love above all else, and must express that love in humble service meeting every need it can, in any way that it can.  We can choose to express our love to our parents, our siblings, our spouses, or our children.  Or we can love greater, by loving those we know less, and associate with more.  Or we can love greater still, by investing our time and energy on those who seek to call themselves our enemies, and desire nothing but our destruction.  To love those who would do us nothing but harm, is to love as Christ loved.  For He showed that same tender love to the eleven as He did to the twelfth (Judas).  Nothing was ever held back by Christ despite what we would choose to do with it.  The same is true today.  But communion was not over yet …

 

The Perception of Reality ...

To admit one is an alcoholic is the first step in finding a solution to the problem.  Though most of us are not afflicted with this uncontrollable addiction, we refuse to see our condition with self-interest is as great or greater than the desire in an alcoholic for just one more drink.  We too are addicts and slaves, but to self, if not the bottle.  And like an alcoholic our perceptions of our condition are colored by the disease we are enslaved to.  We do not truly see our condition.  We do not truly recognize our peril.  We do not rightly foresee the results of the evil we engage in, and the pain that will inevitably come from our actions.  To begin to heal, we must begin by recognizing how our condition colors our reality, and ask to have our perceptions corrected.  We must admit, we are unable to accomplish this in any way.

Perception is reality.  It is so entirely easy to focus on a particular evil in our lives as being “our problem”.  We contend with it.  Loathe it.  We despise ourselves for engaging in it.  And in the process of becoming obsessed with its removal, we ignore the many other problems that go unnoticed.  We fixate on solving a particular evil that grabs our attention and ignore that perhaps it is not the most dangerous evil we are embracing.  For instance, an alcoholic may believe it is his drinking that lays at the root of all the evil in his own life.  But a more objective review, might reveal that it is his refusal to accept help in any form, that prevents him from finding a solution to not only his alcoholism, but relief from every other evil in his life as well.  While he fixates on trying to stop drinking himself, he openly engages in all manner of other evils and hardly recognizes their impact.  In this instance, it is humility that would open the doors to healing, both for this addiction to drinking, and for all the other evils Christ would be able to free him from.

I have sometimes heard the prayer … “show me the evil in my heart,”  This is truly a dangerous prayer.  Yes we need a reality check from time to time to realize our imperfections and keep our dependence upon Christ to heal us.  But a complete picture of our evil might cause us to lose hope that we would ever truly be cured of it all.  Our God is merciful to us, in that He only reveals a little at a time, as we are able to process it.  The true extent of our evil infection is in fact, terminal.  We suffer from a fatal disease that has only one cure – submission to Christ.  While a hurting infected person craves a cure, if they lack the humility to submit, a picture of their condition might only inspire complete despair.  It takes time for the Savior to humble our will, our minds, and our lives to the point where we are able and willing to accept His healing.

It is said a doctor does not make a very good patient, and a lawyer does not make a very good client.  Perhaps it is because having a level of expertise in their respective fields, colors their ideas about how best to treat themselves or represent themselves in court.  A more objective analysis, i.e. one that is provided by someone else looking out for them, may often be better that what they had imagined for themselves.  Christians are similarly stunted when it comes to self-diagnosis.  We see very little in the mirror of our true selves that needs to be adjusted, yet think ourselves expert at diagnosing others.  We sometimes take our diagnosis of ourselves or others a step too far, believing we are capable of writing a prescription that will “heal” the patient.  We have no such skills.  Not for ourselves, or for others.  Our best and only hope is call on our Master Physician to heal us all.

The problem with our disease is that warps our thinking and our perceptions by default.  Self-focused thinking warps the mind to believe it must be done, it cannot be neglected, and if another suffers for our need, better him than me.  These become our core values.  They are exhibited in our actions and worse our motives.  They drive our bad decisions, and create ripples of pain in those we love.  We are blinded by the disease we carry and it is a common disease.  To look to another human for an answer, is to ask another person with a varying level of infection, how to avoid infection at all.  Humans do not have the answer.  Divinity alone is required to recreate what has already been warped within us.  To restore His original intent takes His hands alone.  We can encourage each other.  We can console each other.  We can love each other.  But we cannot heal each other.  We cannot change our own desires, let alone those of another human.  This was not supposed to be our role.  Our job is to give the hurting, the name of our physician and let Christ do the healing.

But as the disease warps the mind to the negative, healing restores the mind to the freedom and joy that is a part of His intentions for us.  Imagine being a freed slave for the first time.  True freedom.  Not being told when to eat, or limited as to what to eat; not being forced to work or play or do anything.  Our addictions force us, or compel us, to do that which we would not.  Healing removes those horrible cravings of slavery.  We no longer have to fight against them, they are removed.  The chains are lifted.  We are set free.  The shear enormity of the time we have, no longer obsessing with the pain of the past, is in itself a gift from Christ.  The liberation of being unbound to the weights that would drag us down, make us feel as if we could run with the wind.  We become free to sing, to dance, to express our joy at the freedom He gives us in our souls.  Our earthly surroundings become meaningless trappings to a heart that has been freed from the evil that once bound it.  It ignites a passion within us, to experience even more freedom, even less pain.  Healing is the only kind of good addiction.

Gratitude from a heart that has begun to experience true healing can motivate us as well.  Freedom resets our colored perceptions and causes us to see truth more clearly.  We begin to want to express our thanks for this gift.  It is not enough to merely utter the words “thank you” over and over and over again.  We cannot be contained just shouting them.  We feel as though we want to do something to show our gratitude.  We begin to want to share in the feelings God has from serving us.  And as we begin to share ourselves with others we discover what it feels like to love like God loves.  When our love affects someone else, when disinterested benevolence finds an object, we begin to rightly perceive what service is all about.

It is all too easy to give to the poor to quell a guilty conscience.  It is too easy to perform some standard amount to giving, in order to “prove” we are a good person.  Too often, work for others is not really done for their benefit alone; it is done to put check marks on a list of perceptions of holiness; or to attempt to feel better than the next guy in the pew.  Motives matter.  When our service comes from an unchanged heart, our disease colors our motives to the point where we miss the true value of serving.  Service is then a chore, a burden, a responsibility.  It drains our human strength, tires us.  Instead of finding the freedom from service, and boost to our morale, we limit its blessings with improper motivation.  But a changed life, and freed heart, can hardly be made to be still.

To discern the spiritual truth in our Word from the Lord, we must allow Him to create within us a spiritual nature.  To be able to properly interpret His Word, our motives for studying it must conform to His leadership and not our own ideas.  Our perceptions cannot be trusted.  Our ideas are affected by our disease.  And thus our results are less than perfect.  But with submission to Christ comes healing.  And with healing comes discernment.  And with discernment comes wisdom.  And it becomes a spiraling cycle leading up to the throne room of God our Father. 

There is NO cap on how good, good can truly be.  There is no limitations to joy.  There is no sky-based-limit to how far we can take this healing process.  Our limitations are only founded in our unwillingness to let go to Him, what we cherish.  Our perceptions, colored by our disease are what limit us today.  But they need not.  Rather we can relinquish them to Him, and allow the healing to commence and grow and grow till we realize we are no longer limited in any way.  This is the process of sanctification.  This is the joy and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are no caps on happiness any more.  There are no chains capable of holding us back , that He is not strong enough to break.  We have truly been freed to love.  So let us love and explore love like God Himself has done on our behalf.