Monday, March 15, 2021

Can the Concept of Healing Be Connected with Spiritual Growth?

This is the third post in a series, after the last two posts, about the sacrifice of Christ making possible our spiritual healing as well as our physical healing.  By spiritual healing I mean overcoming sin and our sinful nature, putting sin out of our lives, and building God's holy, righteous character in our lives with the help and power of God's Holy Spirit.

Here is a passage that connects the suffering Christ endured with our healing:  "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).

But does the word "healed" refer only to physical healing, or does it include spiritual healing also?  I say it includes spiritual healing also.  It includes BOTH physical and spiritual healing.  By Christ's stripes we are SPIRITUALLY healed as well as physically healed.

Yet, I have heard and read little or nothing in the Church of God's messages about the stripes and beating Christ endured enabling our spiritual healing.  Why is this neglected?

I have tried to think about anything I have heard in the Church that connects the concept of healing with spiritual overcoming.  I do recall something given in a sermon I think that was given over the Internet.  If I recall correctly, the speaker was Mr. Brian Orchard of Church of God the Father's Call (COGFC).  I am not 100% sure who the speaker was.  This was a few years ago.

I don't think the subject matter was Passover.  I don't remember the main subject of the message.  But the speaker mentioned about physical healing saying that God will always heal us physically unless by withholding the physical healing He can accomplish a greater healing.  I don't remember the exact words.

But what was the "greater healing"?  The speaker didn't say, but I understood it, and I think most people would understand it, as some kind of spiritual healing, that is, a kind of character development or learning of a character lesson.

So if I understood it correctly, this was a statement that referred to character development, what I call in this post "spiritual healing", as "healing".  So I am not the only one in the Church of God who understands character building - overcoming sin - as a "healing" of our character.

But the concept of the suffering of Christ - the beating He endured - enabling our spiritual healing is one that seems to be sadly neglected in the teaching of the Church of God.

Don't we fully appreciate Christ's sacrifice in this regard?  Can't we publicly acknowledge that He suffered so we can be empowered to overcome sin?

I'll bet some of the the Protestants acknowledge this and give God thanks for it.  But we in the Church of God don't.  Not openly, anyway, though some members may give God thanks for this privately.

This is something the top leaders of Church of God fellowships should consider.
 

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