Tomorrow offers a fresh start!

I trust you have had a really good year. It's over now and the next year with all its possibilities is at hand. Recently not only did I fracture my hip but I tore my shlulder apart as well. It looks as though I will be spending another three or four weeks in rehab.

       So this morning I turned to scripture for encouragement. For reasons you would understand if you could see me right now I turned to the gospel account of Jesus healing the leper (Matthew 8, Mark 1, and Luke 5). This poor man had a terrible skin disease that covered his entire body. Coming to Jesus he fell on his knees and pleaded, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” His point of view was that Jesus had the ability to heal him, but perhaps not the inclination.

       But how does that relate to today’s world? There is a sizable portion of evangelicalism that holds that Jesus is still healing through the agency of gifted men and women in the congregation. This may well be true but in my experience it is not something that happens on a regular basis (at least as it did in Jesus’ day). At the same time I am positive that Jesus’is universal healing ministry continues around the world. Perhaps if we were in a more needy area we would see it.  In any case, Jesus, being the same throughout time, doesn’t have phases in his ministry.  For now, healing, like prayer is one thing that lies pretty much outside the daily experience of most. Some day we will know and be able to join the first century believers in this aspect of the daily experience of living with Christ.
 
       In any case, EVERYTHING STARTS OVER TOMORROW, THE FIRST OF EVERYTHING!
JOIN ME IN THE BEST YEAR OF OUR INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE LIVES.