You may have heard the popular saying that “Christianity is not just another religion, it’s a relationship” — it’s a true statement at its core. But one question that we should ask, is what kind of relationship are we in, and even more, who are we in a relationship with?
If you don’t know the person you are in a relationship with, it becomes much more challenging, or even impossible to sustain that relationship. Sadly, a great many Christians enter into a relationship with a God they barely know, and continue for years, often dazed and confused when certain things happen or not— and sometimes vehemently arguing for things that do not line up with the revealed character of God in the scriptures. Why does this happen? Simply because they don’t know!
But God wants us to know Him! There’s an entire collection of books in the scriptures designed to show us God’s character and His will. And today I’d like to explore this critical topic with you.
Letting God Describe Himself
When it comes to God’s character, who is truly qualified to describe Him? I submit to you that there’s only one person qualified or capable to define Him, and that is God Himself! The good news is that He has given us plenty of detail about Himself— many of them are right out the open on full display in the scriptures. The trouble is that many Christians are fighting a “truth” battle between God’s descriptions of Himself, and what they experience on a daily basis in their lives. We’ll come back to that in a bit… but let’s take a look at some ways in which God describes Himself, and don’t be surprised if you’ve haven’t heard of this, before, or if it challenges the standard religious ideas infiltrating most churches today.
The Healer:
Few ideas are more controversial within the walls of church buildings than healing. What I’ve found over the years, and still find today is that most of the Christians I talk with, advocate and argue for aGod that is either not a healer today at all, or He heals randomly when He wants to, but more often than not will let you suffer for some mysterious greater purpose or to teach you spiritual lessons.
With this kind of theology, a person can’t really have confidence in healing at all— because they can never be sure that God isn’t trying to teach them an unknown lesson, so they are left to wonder, and suffer in confusion.
But is this how God describes Himself? Let’s find out!
Psalms 146:5-8 gives us a good starting point to know the character of God:
“5 Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keeps truth for ever:
7 Which executes judgment for the oppressed: which gives food to the hungry. The LORD looses the prisoners:
8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind: the LORD raises them that are bowed down: the LORD loves the righteous.
What we see here is that, first, God is a help — not a hindrance; and second, the person who has God for their help is happy. The Hebrew word translated as happy, here can also be translated as “blessed.”
And verses 6 through 8, we see some very clear examples of the way that God heals.. We can also notice in verse 7 that God executes judgment (properly: justice) for the oppressed. — that he feeds the hungry (figuratively and literally).
And we also see examples of physical healing as well.
And who is this blessing of God’s help primarily for? The righteous.
In Matthew 15:26, Jesus specifically refers to healing as “The children’s bread” — He wants us to know this and to have it!
Now let’s tackle the critical question…
Who Is the Righteous?
Christians are quick to point out that they are dirty rotten no-good-sinners. I hear that phrase or some version of it uttered in nearly every conversation, It’s sad because it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the finished work of Christ, His atoning sacrifice, and our spiritual rebirth. However, understanding that YOU are righteous in Christ is key to fully receiving and feasting on the healing bread that Jesus provides.
Romans 3:21-22, makes it clear that righteous has been imputed to all those who believe on Jesus Christ, apart from works. And pay special attention to that particular detail in verse 21… apart from the Law/apart from works.Because those I’ve spoken with carry around a sense of a “pass/fail relationship” with God where if they are doing good on this particular day, the sun is shining and God is happy, but when they fail, then God is angry, and they can basically expect suffering and pain as a matter of course. This goes hand-in-hand with the idea that God uses suffering to teach lessons.
The dogmas that many Christians carry around with them have no actual backing in scripture. Such as the belief that the suffering they endure is earning them extra blessings or favor, or teaching lessons. But the scriptures speak extensively on these subjects, Hebrews 10:1-4 speaks to the kind and quality of the righteousness which has been given to us in Christ, and a few verses after that in verse 14, the scripture says that God has perfected forever them that are sanctified (that is, made holy)
So many Christians are duped into living their lives without ever realizing their righteous and holy nature in Christ, constantly sabotaging themselves with a false perception of their nature, when the scripture is clear that they have been reborn into Christ, no longer a slave to sin, the old is dead, and the new is alive in Christ Jesus. When’s the last time you’ve heard a Christian say that?
The Suffering Sleight of Hand
Some Christians believe that hardships, daily pressure, insults, etc, are all blessings today.
To the legalistic mind, this may sound right, and righteous, and very holy.
But as we think about it with even a bit of biblical reason, this line of thinking falls flat.
If hardships are a blessing, then are you going to have hardships in heaven? Will you carry sickness and insult into your eternal dwelling with Jesus?
The scripture says not to call a curse a blessing in Isaiah 5:20-21… be careful what you call a blessing:
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Deuteronomy 28:22, clearly defines sickness and disease as a curse.
1st Corinthians 15:26 calls death an enemy.
Do not call a curse a blessing.
Conclusions
So what we’ve seen so far in this introductory segment, is that God has described Himself as a healer and a source of help. We’ve also seen how Christians often fail to take advantage of the help that God offers — usually because of some misguided sense of humility. And then finally we saw some biblical warnings against calling something evil as something good.
My friend, we’ve just barely scratched the surface of this topic. And in the coming weeks we’re going to dive much deeper into the character of God—- and who how He truly reveals himself, apart from the many man-made, and demonic doctrines which cloud the view of God for so many people.
Until then, I encourage you to meditate on what we’ve seen today, so that you can begin to experience the help and healing of God in greater measure, as you see Him clearly.
Be blessed.