Faith Venture

She is depressed, withdrawn, always sad. She does not interact with friends, neighbors or anyone at church anymore. In fact, she has disappeared from her usual society. Who knows why. Could have been a death in the family, a seemingly insignificant slight, a bitter disappointment, spouse throwing her aside for another. She needs help, but she has no idea she needs help–or that it is even available to someone like her.

Then someone enters her life, their paths cross perhaps quite unexpectedly for a moment in time. She takes the time to draw out her story and listen carefully. With understanding and perhaps some guidance, perhaps suggesting a medical examination to probe for internal chemical imbalances, this new person helps get her on the path of becoming a whole person again.

Sometimes an entire society seems to be fractured. The people as a group have lost their way. Are not a whole people as they once were.

It was into a society that was fractured and apart from God, with many people hurting and in deep need of being made whole again, that Jesus came. We have a hundred years of psychology where researchers put names on every little and big ailment and compile them in the huge bible of the trade – the DSM. In Jesus day, they would call it an “unclean spirit.” We sometimes use similar phrasing in everyday life. We’ll say someone is depressed (not in a clinical way) or troubled or even crazy. But these troubled souls possess a spirit within that is “unclean” that is not whole with God.

The first three chapters of Mark describe many instances where Jesus healed people such as these. He also restored physical wholeness to people with severe skin disease (leprosy) or a birth defect (withered hand) and to many more that Mark doesn’t describe in detail. Mark says that Jesus taught. What he describes in detail is that Jesus made people whole.

And then he assembles a smaller group–the twelve–so that he can teach them to do the same thing. After he left the earth, that is after the resurrection, the remains of this group did just that. And in turn taught a new generation. We are many generations removed from those days, but we, too, can be disciples of Jesus and bring wholeness to people we meet. You can do this by giving attention to someone else, listening to their story and offering guidance. You can also pray over someone with a physical ailment and bring wholeness of various kinds.

In my life, I’ve been with a small group of people who lay hands on an ill person and I could feel the healing flow. People who had cancer and then were checked and it had disappeared. I have no idea why them and not others. Or why maybe the cancer returns later sometimes. I guess we’re a little less than Jesus who was pretty much 100%. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, though. Where in your world today can you bring wholeness to someone who is broken?

After the temptation and after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

You’ve had your “high” moment when you feel totally “at one” with God. There is just no higher feeling you could possibly have–and you know it. But then come the temptations when evil tries to divert you back to your former life. Emotionally draining, sometimes you begin to wonder about the reality of that experience with God. But you work through it with the help of God’s word and friends. Now what?

Well, you do what Jesus did–you get to work. What is your message? What talent or talents do you have to get on with living with God every day? Do you have the ability to heal other people’s emotional wounds? Can you uplift others with song or music? Can you teach? Can you speak? Can you make friends with someone who needs God in their life?

There are many ways to go to work. Remember the message–turn your life around by recognizing where you have gone wrong and deciding to walk with God (repent) and believe the Good News that Jesus has overcome evil and death and will share his victory with us. Then go to work helping others realize this and learn their walk with God.

Jesus discussed whether we are prepared for the seed of God’s Word in our lives through the parable of the sower. He said that there were four types of ground upon which the seed fell. Only one was receptive and grew and produced more seed in turn.

One type of soil was hardened from people walking on it–it was a path. The seed could not even take root and died almost immediately.

Take a look at today’s American culture. We have a growing political movement apparently springing from the distrust of many toward those who may even be trying to help them. We have people who suspect every motive of people who don’t agree with them. Others are convinced that one group or another is out to get them.

These people are not fertile soil awaiting planting of God’s seed. They are not prepared to multiply God’s love by letting the seed of God’s Word sink in and through their lives. I grieve for this lost opportunity for them to be receptive. To let the Spirit in. To live a life free from suspisions, where their lives are determined by others, where they are not free to live in God.

We can actually choose which ground we want to be. The first step is to recognize which we are, then to cultivate, work the soil, pull the weeds and become the fertile ground for God.

I travel widely on business and wind up having dinners with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds. I find that discussions can often turn to either spiritual topics or difficulties that the other person is enduring. Sometimes in the midst of business or engineering talk, another issue comes up. I need to be ready to deal with the new reality. Dallas Willard said that the first act of love is the giving of attention. I’ve noticed that before the giving of attention, you must learn to shift your focus to the other person so that you can then concentrate your attention on them. How often do you talk with someone and you notice that their attention is somewhere else and only superficially on you?

Jesus had this knack. He could be busy going somewhere, attending to something else, preaching, and then he would be interrupted. He could quickly shift the focus of his attention on the person, take in their need or question, and then deal with it in an appropriate manner. When they talk about being Christ-like, this is surely one of the elements.

If the feeling of powerlessness pervades so many people in a country that the rest of the world looks to as powerful, how can people tap into the power of God? Preachers try to infuse the power of God through stirring, emotional sermons. This is not unlike the motivational speakers who tour the country speaking for up to high five figures for a talk. All of us who listen to any of these speakers–religious or secular–know that 99% of the time the feeling wears off before we get home. We all have heard of the unfortunate situations where charismatic leaders actually try to keep followers feeling powerless in order to enhance their own needs for power.

I have long thought that the problem with Christian churches is that we talk about things, but we don’t train on how to do things. Take prayer. There are many ways to pray. If you read the Bible closely (maybe even not that closely), you see where people went off by themselves to pray. Is there an instruction about what they did when they went off? No. Dallas Willard, when writing about Paul and his use of athletic training terms for following a spiritual life, feels that people who heard Paul speak knew what he was talking about. Two thousand years later, maybe we’re not so sure.

About ten years ago someone recommended Richard Foster and his Renovare Institute. Then I finally read Dallas Willard after hearing so much about him for years. Here are people who actually teach the way. They don’t speak about prayer and other disciplines, they teach them. The key is to know the spiritual disciplines and begin incorporating them in your life. Some of the disciplines include study, prayer, meditation, contemplation, fasting, worship, celebration.

It’s your focus and attention that matter. If you start the day with a time of focus and attention on God through study (read from the Bible or from spiritual writers) and prayer, then you will start to tap into the power that is there for you. Sorry, just like losing weight or quitting smoking, it involves work. God is there for you, but you must be there for God.

So, how do we change the world? By teaching one person at a time where to put their focus and attention and help them pursue the disciplines.