knees that give way

this morning i am sending out a reminder of some of the basics of our faith: we, the church, are the body of Christ. Our Lord sacrificed his body and blood for our sins. He was resurrected in bodily form on the third day after the crucifixion, overcoming death forever. Our spiritual act of worship is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. We are to honor God with our bodies. Jesus’ ministry was made up of healing people from diseases and demons and injury and sin. He resurrected people, body and all, from the grave. our faith is directly tied to our bodies, at the very most basic level. when we ask Christ into our lives, he comes and lives within us. yes, and our bodies can be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. why then, are we so often a people of dispair, when it comes to our bodies???

“strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘be strong, do not fear; your God will come…” isaiah 35

in our day, it doesn’t take long to look around see all kinds of things done to the body– plastic surgery that distorts the body according to unrealistic expectations, piercings, tatooes, tanning, extreme sport: all these things taken into excess distort, even damage the body. clothing designed to exploit, exposes the body. diets to control the body, and preserved, processed food pollute and make the body fat and sick. drugs of all kinds also alter, pollute, manage and make the body more “convenient”– changing perception of the body by enhancing pleasure and supressing pain. many of you reading this will have strained relationships with your bodies, as a result of yet more causes: physical abuse and beatings have profound consequenses on the body, as do other traumatic events– the body remembers these injuries for years and years. rape and sexual abuse invades the body and makes a person feel unsafe in their own body and home. physical dependence on drugs and alchohol, and chemotherapy for cancer and other diseases can also have long-term consequences on the body and affect a person’s sense of safety and trust within their body. strong emotions can pollute the body too: anger, sadness, and guilt. i know that each of us can reflect and understand how these things affect our bodies, some more than others. many run around with injured, damaged bodies full of pain, past and present. many of us are balls of stress, with tight muscles, aching backs, poor body-image and self-esteem. we too often divorce our faith from our bodies, thinking improved lifestyle, more excercise, a new drug, more recreation or “stress management” will cure us. every once in a while we will try to make “faith” our cure– throwing “fleeces” before God to heal us, or claiming healing for every discomfort, for chronic disease. some throw out wisdom in order to test God to heal them, refusing medical treatment. many christians have been discouraged from believing any further because they prayed for healing or relief and then it did not occur. sometimes we want to think that by praying a certain way or with a certain formula, health and protection from death can be secured. but this kind of praying and believing is not faith in Christ at all. God is not magic, nor does he operate according to the principles of this world. so, how do we walk in faith daily in our bodies, and believe in the healing love of Christ at this basic level??? how do we offer our bodies to God after all?

without basic air, water, food, shelter, clothes, we cannot live. so too, without basic faith in Christ, we cannot fully live a resurrected life. we cannot live the eternal kind of life we are promised apart from the grace of God. here is the astounding part that i forget all too easily:

as children of God, we are eternally safe in Christ, no matter what. if we die, we have hope of resurrection. if sick, we can pray to be healed. if in pain, we can participate in the sufferings of Christ. our Father in heaven saves our tears and numbers the very hairs on our heads. he created us, planned us out before we were born, and while we were in the womb. there is no hurt he cannot heal, and there is no pain he will not bear with us. physical security rests in God. though we war with our flesh and the fleshly desires to sin and serve sin with our bodies, we must take the salvation of Jesus Christ into our bodies, and never divorce our bodies from our faith. we are saved by God, and must remember that it was His body, broken, and His blood, spilt, that redeems us completely.

Holy Spirit, minister to my broken body, and the pain i hold inside, the emotions i let fester. take my body, take me just as i am, and heal me, restore me, wash Life over me. i pray for myself, and also each one reading this prayer today, to allow your love to meet our needs at the very basic level of survival. Jesus, you are all we truly need. let us rest in your provision, your embrace. though the future is not certain, though we are not made of steel, turn our eyes to yourself and fill each of our bodies with your fantastic light.

“strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘be strong, do not fear; your God will come…” isaiah 35

“but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed.” isaiah 53.5