You Can Help With Spiritual Deficiency Syndrome
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.’ (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Doctors are a lot like maintenance repairmen of most fields of endeavor; when a problem is identified, a repairman begins to troubleshoot through a knowledge base of known errors that they (and others) have built up over years of experience to get a rough diagnosis, then through a series of tests through proven diagnostics get to the root cause of the problem. Sometimes it may take more than what was tried first, and occasionally the initial diagnosis may have been way off, but eventually (for most cases) the root cause is found. Usually, the root cause has been encountered before and prior treatments that have been proved to work before are used and the problem is mitigated. Some unfortunately may find a root cause that has never been encountered before, and end up having a disease named after the first person or group to have the condition (like Crohn’s disease or Legionnaire’s syndrome). It is then a bit of a trial and error and hopefully a cure is found.
Medical issues are physical in nature and physicians are those who (attempt to) do those repairs. Mental issues, or problems with emotions or thinking, have psychologists and psychiatrists who (attempt to) do those repairs. But the largest number of problems in society today are those of the spirit. By observance I can say who or what one chooses to believe is the number one issue of humans today. As discussed in Friday’s e-mail, there are more people – even in ‘Christian’ circles – who do not have a Faithful, Truthful relationship with Jesus.
This is the root cause of the pain and misery we see in today’s world; they may or may not know who Jesus is, they may go through the motions, but have they accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior? If they have not, then they are spiritually not of Jesus as they do not have God Indwelled (the Holy Spirit) within them. We see society falling apart because there is a spiritual pandemic of faithlessness and lack of Spirit, even in many ‘Christian-in-name-only (CINO)’ churches, because they do not know Jesus.
Who, though, should a person having Spiritual issues go to, from an ‘earthly’ perspective? If you are a bona fide Christian, look in the mirror, and say ‘me!’. As a Christian, saved by the Grace of our Lord, can lead someone to Jesus, or at least refer them or provide a ‘roadmap’ that they can follow that will lead them to Jesus and the promise of Salvation. It is not just the Pastor’s job, or the Elders, or a Missions team, but every Christian has the ability, the tools, and the instructions to help get a person with ‘Spiritual Deficiency Syndrome’ to the Lord. Obviously, it always acceptable to point a person to the Pastor, the Elders, or someone who is perhaps a ‘seasoned’ Christian. Sometimes, though, a situation may come where the Pastor, the Elders, or a more seasoned Christian is unavailable at that moment. You, as a Christian, are equipped with the Holy Spirit. So that look in the mirror is not really just ‘me’, but ‘me + God Indwelled’, and in God Math, you and/or me + God = All things are possible! You can do it!
As 2 Corinthians 5:20 states, we are Ambassadors, or Representatives, for Christ. We represent Jesus as His ‘official aide and spokesman’ until His return. In our oath of obedience to our Lord when we accepted Him, we promised to fulfill the Great Commission. We should think of ourselves like ‘mobile clinics’ for the Spirit. We cannot provide Salvation for people, but we can oversee, refer, and ‘prescribe’ how someone can seek and obtain Salvation through Jesus. He is the only one who can heal with a touch or a spoken Word, and he can heal physical issues as well as mental issues or at least He can provide the means for us to cope with our limitations or shortcomings in either area. The key is to first allow Him to fix the Spiritual issues first through providing people a path to know Him!
