Healing and Wholeness

My Father could whistle. His whistle tickled me. It was exciting and enchanting with a luscious warble. As a youngster, he must have practiced it by the hour outside, in the woods where he wouldn’t get caught. When Dad whistled at home, I felt a touch of heaven.

Mom and I didn’t get to hear him whistle often, though -- only during rare moments when Dad forgot he wasn’t supposed to do it and, occasionally, when we coaxed him in front of company and he was embarrassed to refuse.

My grandmother, who really was, over-all, a wise and saintly woman, had taught him that whistling was of the devil and he should never do it. I wonder where she got that idea. I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover a few times. ‘T wasn’t in there!

Our cultures give us a lot of confusing ideas about God. Nowhere are these more evident than in the area of God’s involvement in healing and wholeness. Most Christians, like the general population, believe in doctors, surgeons, and medicine. When standard treatments work, we praise the doctors. When they don’t work or symptoms go away and return later, we just keep going back for more treatment. Yet, the best science, medical professionals, medical machines, and medical cities cannot put illness to an end. It’s only right to be thankful to health care providers, but we shouldn’t put the medical establishment on such a pedestal that God is either an afterthought or reduced to a doctor’s "assistant".

We rarely expect God to work directly, but God is the author of wellness. When the best methods of Christ’s era had failed, sick and injured people went to Jesus, and he healed them. Today, a lot of people come to God with their medical problems only after they’ve tried everything else – if they come at all. I want to tell you: You don’t have to wait that long. Jesus has not changed. Jesus still heals today. And it’s still smart to ask.

What our Service of Healing and Wholeness needs isn’t more divine power. God comes and brings plenty of healing power along. What would bless more people is the presence of more people who are humble enough to ask. You have met Jesus, our Savior and teacher and friend. Now, come meet Jesus, our healer. Jesus is dying to bless you.

God is good all the time!