Healing and Trust

Matthew 21:14 - And blind people and lame people came to him in the temple and he healed them.

Jesus is always, always, always about people. He's curious about them. His conversations make it clear that he cares. Even his confrontational conversations with the Pharisees and the Sadducees are as much about healing as his physical healing of blind people and lame people. Jesus is about restoring people to health, pushing people to go that one step further and telling people what they need to hear, that God loves them.

There are many Christians today who have a hard time believing this, who have a hard time trusting that God loves them. So they focus on law rather than people; acting the "right" way and saying and believing the "right" things. We see this in the reaction to 45s "shithole" comment. People who care about "law" and "right belief" are outraged, if they accept that he said it at all, that he said a "bad" word. Those who care about people are outraged at the vile racism that produced such a comment.

Trusting in God, giving all of our life to Jesus means caring more about flourishing of people than following a law. It is hard to trust God with one's whole life the way Jesus calls us to. Most of us don't do it. We give some parts to God and withhold other parts. Trusting in God means questioning whether any given law is unjust and protesting the unjust laws and actions of our government. It means speaking out on behalf of those most vulnerable. Especially Native Americans, whom I have neglected to name explicitly in my previous posts. It means doing that thing we're called to do no matter how we feel about it.

Most of us are like Moses in how we feel about it - "Can't you send someone else? I can't talk well, I have a lisp. Who am I that I should represent you?" And so on. We find it hard to trust because deep down we know that our lives would have to change. We'll be asked to do things we'd rather not. And God gives us the same reassurance he gave Moses that it is YHVH calling - when you bring the Israelites back here you will all worship on this mountain. In other words, we have to go out on a limb. We have to go on faith.

Yes, it's hard, but we cannot be healed without it. Our lives will stay stuck, our thinking will revolve in circles, and we'll be pushed and pulled by every whirlwind that comes along until we find our center, which I'm calling God. Trust and faith as part of belief can bring peace, positive movement in our lives and blessing we would not otherwise have. It brings risk, too. But as Senator Booker, Dr. King, and Rev. William Barber remind us, nothing is without risk. When we walk in faith we'll be able to see things more clearly and walk our Christian walk more steadily. As God intended.

Which part(s) of my life am I withholding from God? Why? What healing would happen if I give them over to God?