Let's Heal Together
Imagine a sick person who won’t tell anyone about their symptoms. Without help, getting through their illness would be challenging. Whether they need help from a doctor or just someone checking to see how they’re doing, it’s much easier to heal with the help of others.
Similarly, when we don’t tell anyone about the challenges we’re facing, it can be harder to work through them.
Sometimes we do things we know are wrong, but we don’t tell anyone about it because we're embarrassed, ashamed, or think we can handle it on our own. This is because we’re all affected by sin—the wrongdoing and brokenness that separates us from God. It can be hard to share our mistakes with others, but when we keep our sin to ourselves, we’re like the sick person who won’t ask for help—we suffer in isolation rather than allowing others to help us heal.
James 5:16 tells us to share our wrongdoings with other believers so that we can heal together and pray for one another.
When we share our past mistakes with someone, we are released from isolation. And when we pray together, we give God the opportunity to heal our hearts. God is our healer—He saves us from the eternal consequences of sin through His Son, Jesus Christ! And because of Jesus, we have access to a relationship with our Creator. We can bring our requests to Him and trust that He hears us.
This doesn’t mean that God will always answer our prayers in the way we think they should be answered. Instead, when we share our brokenness with Him, He invites us on a journey that will help us grow closer to Him.
If you’re struggling with something today, take some time to share it with a trusted believer. Allow them to pray with you, and you with them, as you ask God to guide you as you heal.
The Mission of God
All of our lives are spent on something.
Most people spend their days focused on growing a family, building a career, or amassing possessions. While none of those things are necessarily wrong, they can become distractions from our ultimate goal in life.
In the book of Acts, we see Paul’s transformation in Christ. As a result of meeting Jesus and being changed by His grace, Paul spends the rest of his life preaching the good news of Jesus.
For Paul, God’s grace and salvation were so great that nothing on this earth could compare to doing His work.
Paul said that nothing in his life mattered as much as telling others about God’s grace. His goal in life was to finish his own race well by faithfully accomplishing as much of the mission of God as possible:
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
Acts 20:24 NIV
The mission of ...