Healing for Laodicea

We live in a society of scientific giants and spiritual infants. If we were to step back and look at our society objectively I believe it would be easy to see the correlations between our "modern age" and the church of Laodicea as seen in Revelation 3:14-22.

Surprisingly, what brought my thoughts to this particular topic had nothing to do with Revelation. Rather, this particular "rant" stems from my current study in the book of James. "Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven." James 5:14-15 NLT

Now, I understand that almost every denomination has a different take on the whole "anointing" idea, but here in James you have a very clear definition as to the purpose of said anointing.

This particular discussion always brings to mind a story from my childhood. While living in California, there was a woman in our church who was like another grandmother to my sister and me. Even at the age of 9 or 10 I understood that her husband didn't come to church with her because he was Catholic. The one story that stands out the most comes from a time when this dear woman was very sick. My dad and several of the elders went to her house to anoint her. My Mom, sister, and I came to pick him up after and I caught the tail end of a conversation between my dad and the husband. Even at a young age I could hear the mix of joking and fear in his voice when he said, "If she dies I'll know you're really Catholics."

For the record, she was healed, and even though I've lost track of her over the last two decades, last I heard she was still going strong.

So, what is my point? I want to tell you one more story that I think will help you understand even better.

Since January 2004, my brother has been serving in Chad, Africa as a medical missionary. One of the biggest struggles he has faced in the last 8 years is the local mentality that "you take your family to the hospital to die". Now, the reason behind this thinking is that many of the locals (who claim Christian or Islamic faiths) will still go to faith healers and/or medicine men before they come to the hospital as a final effort. The problem, however, is that by the time they come to the hospital, they've spent all their money and can't afford the medication that their family member needs.

And here is a good time to state my point: We are the exact opposite of he people my brother deals with on a regular basis! We will seek any and every form of medical professional and only when we are diagnosed with mortality will we seek the spiritual. Now, I do understand that there are times that God doesn't heal when we ask for it. Some people argue that there wasn't enough faith in the praying and others argue that God no longer gets involved. The truth of the matter is that WE CANNOT SEE THE FULL PICTURE!

Sometimes we go into an anointing believing, but use God's apparent lack of answer as a reason I dismiss Him.

It's time to take a stand, Laodicea! It's time to return to a greater faith! Before anyone tries to argue the benefits of modern medicine, I'm not saying we should disregard the benefits of science. Honestly, who's to say that God can't and doesn't use doctors to bring about His healing?

But where is our FAITH in this mess? Isn't it time that we put ourselves out there and called out to God with a strength of faith that BELIEVES in His power to heal, but doesn't give up when His answer isn't an immediate yes? Where is our faith that HE is in control and that HE knows the beginning and the end? Can't we trust the One who has proven His love repeatedly?

Our time on this mortal coil is limited, but we have this greater hope in He who has promised us eternity. We already trust our immortal lives to Him, I think it's time to do the same with our mortality.

You are Who You Hang With

Those of us raised in the church are most likely familiar with the phrase "unequally yoked". This is a concept that is repeated several times in the Bible. What we may not be aware of, is that the concept is first seen in the opening chapters of Genesis.

The first allusion to this concept is found at the beginning of the story of the flood: and the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took them as wives. Now, some people have tried to interpret this passage as angels falling in love with human women, but perhaps a better interpretation is that young men from families loyal to God fell in love with women from families no longer loyal to God.

Many more examples can be found in Genesis that illustrate the disaster that can result from believer marrying unbelievers (Abraham/Hagar, Ishmael, and Lot for example). But, as I said at the beginning, most of us are familiar with this concept. What I'd really like to focus on here is how this not only affects the new generations, but how it can affect any and all relationships.

"However pure and correct one's principles may be, the influence of an unbelieving companion will have a tendency to lead away from God." (PP, 174)

I don't think I could say it any better than that. Think about it, everyone's always talking about peer pressure, an a much as we'd like to think that we're strong enough to withstand it, there are times where we might find ourselves compromising our values in order to be accepted.

Now, before you get all offended and start arguing over the importance of "ministering" to our non-Christian friends, I'm not saying that you should only be friends with people who share your faith, I'm trying to open your eyes.

Think about it, how many times do we shrug off the language or actions of our non-Christian friends because they're not believers? We make excuses for them, claiming that they don't know any better, so how can we possible judge them? And that is exactly where the slippery slope begins.

Take a moment and think of your non-Christian friends. Now that you're thinking of them, take a moment and think about your own thoughts, words and actions since you've been around them. Have you changed? Have you changed for the better?

And that right there is what I'm getting at. We go into these situations believing that we can change them and the truth is that they're changing us more than we are changing them. In order to truly be a light to the world we have to be willing to stand out in the world, I not conform to those around us.

Someone is going to change when it comes to relationships/friendships between believers and nonbelievers...