Come to me
Recently, a few of us have been unwell and needed medical treatment. As a community, we prayed for their full recovery and for them to hold onto God’s promises. Most of us don’t go to a doctor when we are healthy, and some avoid seeing one even when they are unwell.
The medical criteria for health is the absence of disease: if we’re diseased, we’re not healthy. It is generally known that normal health is the absence of abnormality and of detectable symptoms of disease. However, it has been said that the absence of disease does not imply that a person is healthy either. In other words, health is more than the absence of disease.
The same goes for a healthy Christian life: it’s more than just an abstinence from sin and the absence of visible sin in our lives. Not sinning is not a sufficient condition for a believer to enjoy a full life (John 10:10) and the fruitfulness of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Just like how health-promoting behaviour like physical exercise, eating well, and adequate sleep contribute to our healthiness, we cannot neglect the spiritual disciplines necessary for mind, spirit and soul care.
Come to Me… so you will be satisfied and content
I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me
will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
Being a Christian and having a healthy spiritual life are not always the same thing. Jesus provided an antidote in John 6:35 for a performance-driven life that’s constantly striving for achievements and people’s approval. By using the most basic human need for food and water, He pointed out the nourishment that is also needed for our spiritual health; something that we don’t usually pay attention to.
In all fairness, many things we do in life are important and life would be hard if they are not accomplished. But not everything we do have permanent material outcomes. For instance, we can lose our source of income, change or lose our jobs, and need to give up the epicurean lifestyle we were once accustomed to. In John 6:26-27, Jesus contrasted ‘food’ or rewards that are perishable and those that have enduring qualities: Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. Here, ‘food’ can be loosely described as anything that sustains us and keeps us in an optimal condition for functioning.
We are further reminded in ‘the Beatitudes’ (NASB, Matthew 5:6) that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied. Whatever we do in life, and whatever our personality type or relational preferences, we need to make it a habit to approach Jesus for spiritual nourishment so we may attain enduring satisfaction and contentment, and at the same time, let Him show us the dispensable items that fill up our lives each day.
Come to Me…and you will find REST
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
Productive labour and the pursuit of both professional and personal goals that define success are hallmarks of modern life. Often, they are so tied to our existence that when we experience health, mental, relational or family breakdowns, they are minimized as disruptions in our lives. Our pragmatism and task-oriented approach to life lower God as a priority until the next crisis. In short, we seek God to resolve crises, not to rest in Him from the daily grind of life.
It’s also common to measure our spiritual well-being by how much we can tolerate, endure and stay afloat in unhealthy status quo. We live by the moral mantras of ‘duty’, ‘obey’, ‘fulfill’, and ‘be a good so and so’ even when they weigh us down. We learn to tolerate dis-ease and dis-order in many areas of our lives that result from the lack of practicing spiritual disciplines like solitude, reading the Bible for reflection, prayer, and deeper conversations about our own spiritual state. We are often running on empty because we invest little in the health of our relationship with God and with others.
Over time, we begin to describe God like a ship that is anchored at a distance rather than one that is docked close to the shore of our hearts. We talk about His character and goodness as truisms rather than personal stories.
There’s no safe distancing with God but prolonged distance and the lack of deep conversation with Him will create malaise and inertia in our spiritual lives. Jesus invites all who are weary and burdened to approach Him for rest. Obviously, we can only board a ship docked nearby and not one that is anchored far away. The Bible tells us in James 4:8a: Come near to God and He will come near to you. Proximity is vital in our relationship with God.
No matter how long you’ve been a Christian, or whether you are one or not today, know that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:31).
Let us remember that spiritual health cannot be achieved by keeping God far-off. Let us approach Him faithfully for His prescribed way of life and purpose for us each day.
