Book 1 of Musings Benefiting God or Benefiting Ourselves

When we seek to use spiritual principles to gain physical health or spiritual freedom, are we striving to please God and have fellowship with Him? Or are we attempting to benefit ourselves?

In the Christian bookstores (and sometimes even in the grocery stores) we can find books that show us how to solve the problems in our lives. Some of these books use spiritual principles, such as relating arthritis to forgiveness.

Others tell us about vitamins and natural remedies, such as herbs. One company stressed that we could not live an overcoming Christian life unless we used their products in order to gain buoyant health.

Still other authors utilize both spiritual principles and health supplements.

Then there are the books written by Christian psychologists who seek to release us from the various emotional bondages Christians find themselves ins. For example: any number of Christian women were molested when they were young girls, often by their father or a close relative. They often need clinical assistance.

I have seen much good come from the practice of psychology, especially when the psychologist knows the Lord and utilizes prayer and sometimes a gift of wisdom, knowledge, or discernment.

We Americans often have an atrocious diet, and I think we do ourselves and the Lord (who works through our body) a favor when we follow the rules of healthful living, including proper diet and exercise. We may lengthen our years of service to the Lord if we take proper care of our body.

Good often comes from healthful living, and also from psychological counseling.

I am not as confident, however, concerning the relating of our emotional state to specific illnesses. For example: attributing varicose veins to a bitter attitude.

Perhaps many illnesses are based in our emotional state. But I think this route to effective Christian living can easily be overdone.

The problem I see here is that people are concentrating on themselves rather than on Jesus Christ. They have diabetes, so it is because they haven't forgiven someone. They have flat feet because they are bitter. They have an earache because they are angry.

Can you see how this kind of thinking can get your mind off Christ?

American people, ordinarily having their basic survival needs taken care of, are often excessively engrossed in themselves. If a "minister" of the Gospel desires, he can make a good deal of money for himself by advising people concerning the spiritual causes of their various illnesses (which often are the result of overeating and lack of exercise).

How fascinated we become with the thought that if we keep a happy attitude we never will have cancer! We become absorbed endlessly with our symptoms and how they relate to our thinking and attitudes.

I don't like it or trust it!

Have you ever read, in Second Corinthians, about the things the Apostle Paul suffered, or any other account of the suffering of missionaries? Can you imagine these people dwelling on their mental attitude and its relationship to their sufferings?

How about those saints eaten by lions or burned at the stake?

I am pointing out that American Christians become too occupied with trying to use spiritual principles to relieve their aches and pains. They can lose sight of the Lord Jesus when they do this.

I notice that the practitioners of these various schemes do not always advise us to look to Jesus. Rather, we are to look to them and their formulas for health, wealth, and happiness.

Having been a Christian for many years I can testify that the best thing we can do in every situation is to look to Jesus. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

But we must go past looking to Jesus to solve our problems. We must mature to the place that we are seeking fellowship with the Father and with Christ. More than this, we are pressing into the rest of God where we are flowing with the Life and will of God, having overcome through Christ the various bondages of the flesh and spirit that would hinder our obedience.

It is Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! This is where our attention should be, not on ourselves. "Let's forget about ourselves, and concentrate on Him, and worship Him."

The longer I live the bigger Jesus becomes. Just think! He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. And scientists keep discovering the firmament is greater than they thought and is still expanding, such that we cannot comprehend the mass and energy that are involved. The magnitude of space and its occupants is beyond belief!

Yet, the Lord Jesus breathed all these into existence with a Word and one day will withdraw them with a Word, and then breathe out a new sky and a new earth.

Absolutely inconceivable authority, power, and wisdom! This is Jesus, the Anointed One of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why, then, should we be so occupied with attempting to discover spiritual principles intended to bring us a merry existence, when the Lord of the universe has notified us that if we will ask anything in His name, He will do it. He - the Son of God - will do it!

I am all for healthful practices for body and emotions. There certainly is a place for doctors, psychologists, and dietitians. I believe a distressed emotional state will affect us physically.

The problem is that of missing the big picture. We take our eyes off Jesus and fasten on our navel.

The Apostle Paul was given some kind of infirmity so he would not lean on his own abilities but on Christ. No amount of spiritual principles would have removed that thorn. Paul did the right thing. He prayed earnestly until the Lord told him that the suffering was coming from Jesus Himself. Then Paul was content.

If there is a mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual course we should take in order to obtain healing, the Lord always will guide us as long as we keep our eyes on Him. But keeping on our eyes on a formula for mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual success probably will not cause us to look to the Lord but only to another formula to try.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:13-14)