Going Beyond Human Sickness

Going Beyond Human Sickness

Matthew 11:28-30, 16:21-27

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

What do you do when you get sick? For many of us our first response is to look for an “over-the-counter” solution to see if we can find a cure for whatever ails us on our own! I remember a few years ago, before Covid, I got a nasty cold. My throat was sore, my head pounded, I figuratively coughed up a lung every hour, and my nose refused to stop running so I tried my usual home remedies to get better. I ate lots of chicken noodle soup, slept for many hours, used a Neti Pot to clear out my sinuses, and popped Fisherman’s Friends like they were candy! After several days of what this “baby” thought was intense suffering, I went to the Pharmacy to get some better drugs. I thought to myself “I am a grown man who knows his own body so surely I can find my own solution!” With Buckley’s Cough, Cold and Flu Medicine, NeoCitran, extra strength Tylenol and other medicines that I don’t even remember their names, I confidently headed home with the expectation that this “home physician” would quickly heal himself! After a few more days of intense suffering and with great humility I called my doctor for an appointment. She questioned my “wisdom” of not asking her advice sooner for now my cold had become bronchitis and a sinus infection was so bad that even my teeth and jaw hurt when I was walking! I happily took the prescription she wrote and when the pharmacist went out back to get drugs not accessible to the public without a prescription, I sighed relief for I knew I now had a cure, and my suffering was about to end!

But what does one do when something is seriously broken within one’s mind and very soul? What do you do when you feel empty, alone and incapable of finding any purpose for living? When life becomes pure vanity and meaningless where does one turn to be healed? Like a broken body most tend to look for “over-the-counter” remedies to heal their fractured minds and restore happiness and peace to their lives. Surely by strengthening one’s family relationships, increasing one’s wealth, fame, and power, or just indulging in the pleasurable activities of life should cure and fill our minds with joy and peaceful thoughts? But what does one do when the void in one’s heart cannot be filled with such worldly strategies? After all most people no matter how hard they try will not become “successful” by worldly standards, and even if they do, rarely by acquiring whatever the lust of the eyes sees, satisfies them, nor does it make a dent in filling the gapping hole within their heart with any sense of purpose! And while one could go and get help from a psychiatrist, they are not always able to provide a cure because when the hole in one’s heart is distance from one’s Creator … well then only He who knit us in our mother’s womb (Psalms 139) can show us the way, truth, and life (John 14:6)!

The Great Physician Jesus

Saint Augustine once said, “our heart is forever restless until it rests in God!” This makes sense considering that we are all created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and are meant to have a relationship with our Creator. Our soul thirsts for the living God and as such Dallas Willard rightly states it becomes sick and diseased by our sin and our wandering on the dark path of infinite choice and loving the ways of this world. It is by coming into the presence of God with a humble, regenerate, and submissive heart that one finds one’s true purpose is to do His will for one’s life! But what does one do when going to church, reading the Bible and praying still leaves one feeling sick, empty, alone, distant and broken? Should not our solution be to come before the Great Physician whose potter hands alone can forgive our sins and grant us the joy of receiving every spiritual blessing in His name (Ephesians 1:3)? Is it not Christ who leads us by the still waters? And when we get under His wings and rely on His providential care, do we not receive refuge and the peace of God that transcends all understanding because His hand provides what is truly good for us (Psalms 23, 91, Romans 8:28)? And even if what is trying to crush one’s soul is the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12) our cure is still guaranteed for our Great Physician is no one other than Jesus who is sovereign over all things seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16)! So, then why do so many Christians live with “sick souls” when they have access to divine healing 24/7?