I believe and will tell anyone that I am fully healed. Yet just an hour ago I was experiencing serious pain. Crazy talk? Let’s look into this.
Smith Wigglesworth, a well-known healing minister from a century ago, would see remarkable miracles of God. I heard one story where he punched a man in the stomach, and his cancerous tumor disappeared… or something like that! What really stands out to me about his story is that he would go home after that and cough up blood. I just recently finished reading the biography of David Brainerd. Although he would see the powerful presence of God in his frontier outreach meetings where many Native Americans got saved, he died in his 20s of tuberculosis.
Tension… Nature lends itself to such a tension of truths. Let me ask a question first. Is light a particle or a wave? Is it like a baseball flying through the air, or is it more like a wave in the ocean or a giant wave in a crowd?
People used to debate it heavily. Before the 20th century, we had this thing called classical physics, where we thought we had the universe pretty much figured out… Until quantum physics came on the scene… And burst our little convenient cognitive boxes. I’m not going to delve too much of the detail, but basically what you need to know is that people figured out that light is a particle and a wave at the same time. It is actually a thing that takes up space, which is why it can travel through space, but it also has a wavelength, which is why we perceive different colors. It doesn’t take a huge step to go from light to heavenly things. If something is heavenly, you struggle to describe it.
Let me ask you another question: is Jesus with you?
Well of course, right? So … you’re telling me that you believe that the destiny of your entire life journey is based upon a Jewish man who lived 2000 years ago, who ascended into the sky, and is simultaneously in heaven right and right next to you? And you think it is strange that I am healed just because I’m still having some pain?
One of my favorite things about Jesus is that the truth is always held in tension. The same man that is called the Prince of Peace said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Mt 10:34). The same man that said, “Come to me and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28) also said “the violent will take it by force” (Mt 11:12).
Think about this: salvation is a moment, but it is also a process. We’re saved when we trusted Christ; we are being saved as we are transformed into his image; and we will be saved on the day when he returns. Lastly, here is my favorite pet cognitive dissidence with which I have been wrestling with since November 2008: that I experience pain on a daily basis, but that I am also, at this moment, healed and seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6).
And, ultimately, that is the crux of what I am saying. Even though I feel pain, I can say with no confusion, denial, or guilty of lying, that I am healed.
Through the stripes and scars upon Jesus’ back, I HAVE BEEN healed (Isa 53:5).
Without tension on the strings, how would a guitar make any sound? If you find yourself in the mist of such a tension, don’t fret… Maybe something heavenly has just entered your life, and perhaps a beautiful sound is ready to come forth.