Motivated by Healing
“When they arrived at Gennesaret on the other side of the lake, they anchored the boat and climbed out. The people standing there recognized him at once, and they ran throughout the whole area and began carrying sick people to him on mats. Wherever he went – in villages and cities and out on the farms – they laid the sick in the market plazas and streets. The sick begged him to let them at least touch the fringe of his robe, and all who touched it were healed” – Mark 6:53-56 (NLT).
Jesus didn’t have to beg people to come listen to him teach. He didn’t have to advertise his presence or put an ad in Jerusalem Times that he was in town holding revival meetings. He didn’t even have to invite people to come and listen to him.
Why? Because he healed. Where there is healing, people will come in droves. You won’t have to beg them to come or bribe them or talk them into it. They will come.
Why? Because there is so much brokenness in our world that nearly everyone is looking for healing. They are searching for love to bathe their souls and evaporate their troubles in the mist of mercy.
So if they hear that a person is a healing-type person, they will come running. If they hear that a church is full of grace and mercy, you won’t be able to keep them away. If they find out that your home is one where love prevails, truth is spoken, friendship is found, and acceptance exists - - people will come. Oh, you may have to issue an invitation because you can’t miraculously heal people like Jesus did, but they’ll come.
Where there is healing, there are multitudes of broken people to receive it.
Our society is a broken society. We are broken by fractured relationships; broken by divorce; broken by abuse; broken by rejection; broken by economic hardship; broken by failure; broken by success; broken by immorality; broken by crime; broken by hopelessness; broken by purposelessness; broken by poverty; broken by demonic cycles; broken by family strife; broken by personal mistakes; broken by missed opportunities; broken by alcohol and drugs; broken by shattered dreams and lost time. Our hearts are full of scars and lacerations, many of which we do not even know are there until we encounter love that heals and truth that frees.
Jesus is our healer. He healed then. He heals now. Oh, to be sure, he may not be walking the streets healing sick people as he did then - - though I still believe God heals sickness today (see James 5:14-16). But by his wounds we are healed.
His mercy heals our guilt. His forgiveness heals our failure. His grace heals our blunders. His compassion heals our reluctance. His truth heals our misunderstanding. His cross heals our sin-sickness. His resurrection heals our hopelessness. His Spirit heals our helplessness. His teaching heals our souls that are wounded by misconceptions, bad choices, and confused lifestyles.
He is our healer. As he healed then, so he heals now. Come, touch the fringe of his robe. Experience healing. Live no longer in pain. Let him enter your struggle. Yes, that’s it. Do it. Close your eyes and talk to him - - then seek his people to minister to you. Do it now. Pick up the phone. Send that message. Say that prayer. Open that bible. Be motivated by the healing your soul craves. Don't be afraid. He will meet you where you are and heal your soul.
What are you waiting for?