Editorial April 2, 2018 Issue

‘I just don’t know how to heal’—and a lesson from Peter

Scott Preller

You can’t really read the Gospels without encountering healing as a primary theme. It’s abundantly clear that Jesus expected his followers then and now to be active healers. And he didn’t speak of it as something beyond what they could do, but rather as a natural outcome of believing what he taught. That’s what makes the Gospels such good news.

Christian Science lifts the feeling that healing is a burdensome or even impossible demand of Christianity. I’ve never met a Christian Scientist who couldn’t recall some experience of significant healing in their life. These healing experiences aren’t shared as some sort of dramatic, otherworldly event, but as the practical outcome of understanding more deeply the fact of God’s supremacy always in operation. But here’s the interesting thing: I’ve also never met a Christian Scientist who couldn’t recall a time when they felt that, despite their best efforts and prayers, they just weren’t seeing the results they’d hoped for. No matter how significant the healings they may have seen or experienced in the past, the lack of present progress brought on a discouragement and fear that made them feel, “I just don’t know how to heal.”

It may be a kind of perverse comfort to realize that we’re not alone in having those feelings of spiritual inadequacy, that everyone has to face them. But once we’ve realized they aren’t unique to us, we still have to decide what we’re going to do about them. Most of us don’t have to work too hard to come up with reasons why we’re humanly not worthy of healing. That’s always been the case. But it misses the point of Christianity’s good news, which is that whatever the size of and reasons for our doubts, God’s love is bigger. Jesus’ example shows us that healing was never the outcome of some sort of religious meritocracy, where only the humanly worthy get the prize. Healing is based on the enormity of God’s love and grace, and the power of that love to reach us and transform us.

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Bible Lens—April 2–8, 2018