Wounded Healers Listen

May 31, 2019

Wounded Healers Listen

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

Because our wounds have been healed by Jesus, we have oneness with God. God’s Spirit has come to make His home within our fragile, mortal lives. Therefore, even though we face many difficulties in life, we are not destroyed. As we die to our own self-interest, the life of Jesus becomes visible in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4: 8-12) It is this truth that empowers us to listen with our wounds.

Whenever we are with a person who is suffering, there is a HUGE temptation to share our own story, our own experience of pain and suffering. However, a wounded healer is one who can listen to a fellow sojourner without succumbing to the temptation to talk about their own pain and suffering. Our wounded experience can empower us to listen with empathy, compassion and love. Having to remember and talk about our own experiences may well be an indicator that we have not yet experienced the fullness of God’s healing in our own lives.

The psalmist implores us to be still and know God. (Psalm 46:10) His inspiration came from God’s promise to King Jehoshaphat, “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). This too is God’s promise to us! The Apostle Paul affirmed this when he wrote, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). This means that when we are with another person who is going through a time of trial, we can be still and trust that God is at work. We can trust that our own wounds will empower us to listen with our whole being.

My Takeaway: I believe learning to become an empathic listener will allow me to be a vessel of healing for the other person, while I receive God’s grace for my own continued healing. Maybe for you also.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Time to Give; a Time to Receive

May 30, 2019

A Time to Give; a Time to Receive

Then (Jesus) breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

John 20:22

Jesus’ imperatives in Matthew 25 are very compelling: “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life” (Matthew 25:45-46). Couple this with Jesus’ imperative to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19), and we can make a good case for Christians staying busy doing and giving all the time. As evangelist Malcolm Smith noted, God created us as human beings, and we have turned into human doings. A major flaw in our flesh is the need to be in control, and most often it is easier to stay in control if we are giving as opposed to receiving. But receiving is as vitally important as giving, maybe even more so, because if we don’t first receive from Christ, we have nothing of eternal substance to offer others.

I have always struggled with carving out quiet time where I can be still and know the presence of God. This has been especially true lately. When asked to consider a teaching assignment, I was stunned to look at my calendar and realize I don’t have any available time until the last half of August! Sometimes I get way too busy.

My Takeaway: My heart is pleading with my head to remember there is a time to give and a time to receive. I need equal time for both if I want to live a healthy life.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Wounded Healers

May 29, 2019

Wounded Healers

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.”

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us that when “Christ came into the world he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer” (Hebrews 10:5). Thus Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me” (Luke 22:19b). I read an article recently that said a person understands themselves in terms of their body image. That is, what a person feels about their body and its worth is what they feel about themselves. Jesus must have had a pretty good self-image since he gave his body as a sacrifice for the entire world.

I suspect most people struggle with their body image. We see ourselves as too heavy, or not heavy enough, not muscular enough, too tall or too short. Some of us have scars that are hard to look upon. The Word of the Lord for us today calls us to look at our bodies in a different light. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak unto God the same words Jesus spoke to God, “You have given me a body to offer.” We are not called to sacrifice our bodies for the sins of the world, but we are called take our redeemed bodies and “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

Jesus’ body was pierced, crushed and wounded to heal our sin-sickness and bring us into peace with God. Now we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus as our lives are hidden with God in Christ Jesus. All that remains is for us to respond to God with the same words Jesus spoke to his Father, “I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7).

My Takeaway: We are wounded people. As we receive appropriate care for our wounds, and as we allow Jesus to heal our wounds, we can become wounded healers, vessels of grace to be used by Jesus to bring healing to others.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Putting on Christ

May 28, 2019

Putting on Christ

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

To become a Christian is to enter into an altogether new identity, or as the Apostle Paul put it, “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). In the verse quoted above, Galatians 2:20, Paul reveals that ‘putting on Christ’ is a matter of making a conscious decision to ignore our natural instincts and choose to live our life by trusting in Jesus to show us a new way to live. Jesus modeled a life lived as a child of God, and as we are Christianoi, the people of Christ, he will empower us to do the same.

A good spiritual discipline is to pick one of the four Gospels, and read it with the goal of discerning as many personality characteristics of Jesus as you can. After you have made your list, study it with the thought that Jesus wants you to embody those characteristics in your life; this is putting on Christ. A caveat: it is easier to identify the characteristics than it is to make them your own. This is because God wants to completely transform our lives, which means a complete reorientation of how we relate to God, ourselves and to other people. This is also why Paul used such hyperbole to describe how he ignored his flesh and trusted in Jesus instead: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. . . “

Some of the characteristics I have noted in Jesus’ personality include an openness and acceptance of his feelings, simplicity of conversation, intimacy with his Abba, and humble obedience to his Abba’s will. Choosing to let God work these characteristics into our lives is choosing to take the road less traveled, and while we do have to reaffirm our choice, sometimes moment by moment, we want to remember that ultimately “God is working in (us), giving (us) the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13).

My Takeaway: I believe this is the way Paul chose to live his life, and by following this road less traveled he could write, “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.