38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Acts 10:38-43 [NASB]
I have just been reading a book in which the author addresses the feeling of dissatisfaction with his experience of Christianity. Despite a knowledge of the word, despite time spent in prayer, despite involvement in Christian ministry, he felt distant from God. He didn’t feel the joy and the passion he wanted to experience.
Furthermore, the author notes that we are emotionally broken people. To a lesser or greater degree we are damaged by the sinful acts of other people in our lives, and by our own sinful acts. This damage may hinder our relationship with God.
The answer the author gives is to encourage the believer to look to Christians from the centuries past – and to look to other Christian and even non-Christian traditions in order to find ways to experience God more fully.
My answer is to ask, “Isn’t forgiveness enough?” The Bible spends little time on emotional healing as such – indeed this is one of the rare times in which demonic oppression is mentioned. The element of ’emotional healing’ which is spoken of is the forgiveness of sins, which is mentioned over and over again. In the scripture quoted above, the prophets made a point of stressing that he came to bring forgiveness of sins.
Being forgiven has the potential to lift a tremendous psychological burden from the shoulders of the believer. Being forgiven brings reconciliation with God and the opportunity to enter his presence as his beloved children. Being forgiven brings about the possibility of reconciliation with one’s fellow man. Isn’t forgiveness enough?
Perhaps growing up in the faith, as I did, one thinks more highly than he ought to think about himself. He would underestimate his own need of forgiveness – in which case his sense of joy would be deficient. Unless it be the case that they have not understood the enormity of their sins, I cannot understand how there would be a lack of joy in the life of those who have been forgiven.
It is by faith that we grasp the truth that we are forgiven. We who doubt the forgiveness of God, for whatever emotional or psychological reasons, will of course find it difficult to feel forgiven. It is at that point that we must echo the words of the father who brought his son to Jesus for healing. Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24 [NASB]
As for our brokenness, when we get to the other side, we’ll experience healing in every area. There will be no more tears – and we will have direct experience of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ…
– SSXG