Daniel Bramlett
There is a song on the radio right now by Natalie Grant called “More Than Anything.” The verse has this line, “Help me want the Healer more than the healing. Help me want the Savior more than the saving.”
The human heart longs for rescue. We crave healing. Hear me when I say this. The greatest gift we can ever be offered is not rescue, but a relationship with the One who promises to rescue us. Does that make sense?
You were created for a relationship with God; to know Him and be known by Him. If the greatest desire of your heart is to be pulled out of a situation or to see a certain catastrophe made right, you very well may get what you hope for. But what then? In this life there will always be some catastrophe or illness staring us in the face. We are not perfect and neither is the world we live in. We certainly need a ‘Fixer’. But more than fixing, we need Jesus. Surely He is the only One who can heal our broken hearts. We must be careful, though, that our healing isn’t all we hope for. Folks, we must aim a few miles higher.
Easter is on the horizon. Are you excited? I like all the pomp that comes with the day, but really, when it all comes down to it, I could take or leave the dress and food and ‘fancy things.’ For me and for Jesus people around the world this day means a chance to celebrate the coming back to life of our King. We do not celebrate His funeral! We aren’t a grieving bunch! No, our hope is in the fact that we serve a risen Healer; a second-life Rescuer. Do you know anyone else like that? No and you never will.
I challenge you this April 4th to look to Jesus Himself and not what He offers you. Thank Him for the gifts of peace and love and a future, but look for HIM first. The greatest gift we could ever be given is a relationship with the risen King. He is ours and we are His. His heart beats to restore us to the Father. Will you come home this Easter?
The threat of disease has isolated many of us. We’ve retreated into our living rooms with the comfort of TV worship services, but this is not enough. We need in-person worship services much more than we need vaccines right now! This year as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus is a perfect time for you to recommit yourself to in-person worship. If disease, anxiety, fear of judgment or the condemnation of a past experience with the Church has caused you to isolate, will you decide now to reverse that decision? The beauty of the Body of Christ is that we don’t have to fix ourselves up to be a part of her activity and life. We are invited to come as we are and promised that we will not leave as we were. Let me share just a few reasons why this commitment is a worthy one.
The Church is called several different names in the Word. One is the Body. This is an unbelievable way to describe a bunch of imperfect people collected in God’s name. For Him to say that we are by design the image of His Son to a world that is lost without Him is mind blowing. We can shout that reality, too! We are His Body! No one ever said we were Jesus. He is the One and Only. There will never be a need for another Son of God to die on a cross, rescue the sick and hurting or raise the dead. But there is a HUGE NEED for those who follow Him to bear His truth to a world that is totally captive in sin.
Another name that is attached to us is the Bride. Let me say this so you can’t miss it. In a wedding a bride and groom are united as one flesh before God. The two leave as one to live the rest of their days before God and everybody as a testimony to His ability to do the impossible: knit two hearts together for His glory and their good. All of this beauty and joy is just a shadow of the marriage between Christ and the Church. (Ephesians 5.22-33 tells us this!) As the groom, Jesus proudly waits for His Bride to walk the isle and join Him in a life of joy, pain, laughter and tears. He loves us as any groom loves his bride and longs for us to give our hearts wholly to Him.
The joy of doing life together as the Church far outweighs any fun or security we could find on our own. It’s time to come home. Churches all over the world will have their doors and hearts thrown open wide April 1st. Pray for courage, pick a Church and do more than just enter their doors. Enter their lives. …‘til death do us part.