Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Only the One Who Made Us Can Remake and Restore Us
JESUS CHRIST WHO RESTORES
Hosea 14:1-9
The internet, we know now, is both a blessing and a curse. It has provided us an ocean of information that no person could exhaust, even over multiple lifetimes. That’s perhaps the blessing. But it has also flooded us with misinformation and disinformation—that’s the obvious curse.
One very negative consequence of ready access to the web is that many of us play at being our own physicians. We notice an oddly shaped spot on our skin, and our online medical sleuthing quickly sends us into a panic as we persuade ourselves that we have cancer. Diagnosing and then even treating ourselves with a handy peek at WebMD is likely to have, at best, mixed results. We are ill-equipped to be our own physicians.
The same is true for our psyche and spirit; we are ill-suited to be our own therapists nor can we cure ourselves of spiritual brokenness. The trouble with psychological or spiritual brokenness is that they interfere with our capacity to see ourselves clearly. In the grip of acute depression, one lacks the resources to escape that depression. The ego cannot free itself by its own devices.
We need the resources of caregivers, and in the case of spiritual brokenness, we need resources that can come from the Holy alone. Only the one who made us can remake us and restore us to wholeness. Fortunately, this is just what our passage from Hosea promises us. God assures us that God is the one who will restore us:
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me. (Hos 14:8)
Does this mean that we do nothing? Do we simply wait passively for God to restore us? No, we can pray as Hosea urges us to. We can cry out:
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
We recognize that nothing we made can save us; not our social systems, not our money, not fame, not accomplishment, nothing that is “the work of our hands.” Instead, we must trust that God’s love will find us, grasp us, and lead us to healing and restoration.
Hosea 14:1-9
The internet, we know now, is both a blessing and a curse. It has provided us an ocean of information that no person could exhaust, even over multiple lifetimes. That’s perhaps the blessing. But it has also flooded us with misinformation and disinformation—that’s the obvious curse.
One very negative consequence of ready access to the web is that many of us play at being our own physicians. We notice an oddly shaped spot on our skin, and our online medical sleuthing quickly sends us into a panic as we persuade ourselves that we have cancer. Diagnosing and then even treating ourselves with a handy peek at WebMD is likely to have, at best, mixed results. We are ill-equipped to be our own physicians.
The same is true for our psyche and spirit; we are ill-suited to be our own therapists nor can we cure ourselves of spiritual brokenness. The trouble with psychological or spiritual brokenness is that they interfere with our capacity to see ourselves clearly. In the grip of acute depression, one lacks the resources to escape that depression. The ego cannot free itself by its own devices.
We need the resources of caregivers, and in the case of spiritual brokenness, we need resources that can come from the Holy alone. Only the one who made us can remake us and restore us to wholeness. Fortunately, this is just what our passage from Hosea promises us. God assures us that God is the one who will restore us:
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me. (Hos 14:8)
Does this mean that we do nothing? Do we simply wait passively for God to restore us? No, we can pray as Hosea urges us to. We can cry out:
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
We recognize that nothing we made can save us; not our social systems, not our money, not fame, not accomplishment, nothing that is “the work of our hands.” Instead, we must trust that God’s love will find us, grasp us, and lead us to healing and restoration.
Prayer
Lord, grant us the wisdom to stop trying to be our physicians. Grant to us the courage and vulnerability to trust that only you can heal us and restore our souls to wholeness. Amen
Thought for the Day
We can only be remade by the One who made us in the first place. Healing is re-creation.
John J. Thatamanil. St. Mark’s Church-in-the Bowery, New York
Lord, grant us the wisdom to stop trying to be our physicians. Grant to us the courage and vulnerability to trust that only you can heal us and restore our souls to wholeness. Amen
Thought for the Day
We can only be remade by the One who made us in the first place. Healing is re-creation.
John J. Thatamanil. St. Mark’s Church-in-the Bowery, New York