What the World needs Most

A Buddhist monk was asked to describe what is a miracle. He replied, "What does this world need the most? It needs healing, love ... it needs reconciliation. I think that's a miracle. That's the miracle we need... So let's stick to the real miracle which is to transform the human mind." Little does this monk know, but he is describing the work of Jesus Christ and doesn't even know it. Buddhists, in general, and Buddha, in particular, do not believe in the existence of God. Rather, they believe in things like an "enlightened consciousness" and Jesus Christ, unfortunately, is not a part of their worldview. However, this monk does seem to recognize what the world needs, but doesn't go far enough in his explanation.

Healing

The Bible is full of examples of miraculous healings. The majority of the focus when it comes to healings are the physical healings. If you simply look at the miraculous healings that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry you have the blind seeing, lame walking, lepers cured and the deaf hearing (Matthew 15:30; Luke 7:21-22) and numerous other similar miracles. There is, however, a different type of healing that only Christians experience, but is available to the entire world. The Bible tells us, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)." There is no greater healing than that which occurred when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. The debt of sin we owed to God, but could not pay, separated us from Him for thousands of years. But, now, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God is no longer counting our sins against us. Therefore, we can now receive Christ's offer of salvation which will begin the healing of our hearts toward God and, subsequently, with our fellow man.

Love

One of the greatest needs of the human heart is for unconditional love. God put this desire in our hearts because only He can meet that need in Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. The dictionary definition of love is "an intense feeling of deep affection." We may think of this in terms of the love we feel for a significant other or maybe for a child. While that is fine, the Bible describes love as something different. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)." Test yourself. Are you always patient, kind, etc? Of course not. This is a description of the love of God. If you are a Christian, you will begin to experience the love of God meet the desire for it in your heart. And as it grows in you, you will begin to love others as God, in Christ, is loving you. As the world sins against you, God's love will begin to be expressed through you. When you are presented with the opportunity to be impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, proud, dishonorable, self-seeking, easily angered, and to keep records of wrongs, you won't want to do that. It is when this starts happening that you realize you are bearing God's love He is producing in and through you. This will, in turn, begin to change the people around you as you become a living witness of Jesus Christ.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is an accounting process that uses two sets of records to ensure figures are correct and in agreement. It confirms whether the money leaving an account matches the amount that's been spent, ensuring the two are balanced at the end of the recording period. In other words, there is no debt outstanding that remains to be paid. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, the Bible says, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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." From God's point of view, the "books" are balanced. We owed God our lives as payment for our sins. But, our sins are so terrible that our death would be insufficient as payment. Only the death of God would be sufficient as payment for our sins. That is why, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)." Jesus Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves in order to balance the books with God on our behalf. That is why we are implored to be reconciled to God. The debt of sin is paid and our sins no longer separate us from God. Believe it. Be reconciled.

Transform the Human Mind

In Romans 12:1-2, we read, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." To renew your mind is to transform it. The key to remember is that this doesn't happen through the sheer will or determination of the individual, but only through the presentation of ourselves to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to use us as He sees fit. We become living sacrifices; offering ourselves to God to do His work through us. As Christians, because God lives in us, we have "the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." And because we have the mind of Christ, we will know what it means to be healed by, loved by and reconciled to, our God. As we go out into the world, we will be able to share these things with those we encounter in hopes that some will turn to Jesus Christ by faith and be saved.

The monk recognizes the miracle the world needs most. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize the only One that has provided that miracle; Jesus Christ.

No Limits

Have you ever been told that your beliefs “limit” God? This was told to me because I am of the opinion that God is not a responder to me based on my amount of faith, particularly when it comes to things like physical healing and raising people from the dead. Yes, God does heal and has raised people from dead. I even believe this is still taking place today. However, it is obvious that not everybody who desires to be healed or loses a loved one to the grave has that desire answered. While there may be exceptions, I believe that God is the initiator and we are the responder. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (John 3:16).” It doesn’t say, “For the world had so much faith that God gave his one and only Son.” Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20).” We don’t even have the faith the size of a mustard seed or else we could move mountains and probably a whole lot more. But, the real problem with this idea of God responding to our faith is that it is a form of legalism. Legalism is basically any belief that says the blessings of the flesh are dependent on the individual’s obedience, repentance or faith. In other words, you don’t have faith in God, but you are putting faith in yourself and your ability. Interesting enough, the individual who said I was limiting God just got out of the hospital where they were laid up with severe back problems that were still bugging them when we had our discussion. When I asked them, “Why is your back still hurting if it is about your faith?” Their reply, “Well, God must be trying to teach me something.” How convenient. When you are “healed” it is your faith and when you are not healed, God is teaching you a lesson. How do you know the difference? When I asked them, “How come my mom wasn’t healed of her cancer that took her life?” Their reply, “I don’t know.”

Honestly, yes they do know. According to their belief system, my mom either didn’t have enough faith or God taught her one hell of a lesson! But, people won’t say that because that isn’t loving for one and two, and more importantly, it exposes the error of their beliefs. Nowhere in all of this is Jesus. It is all about the individual’s faith or lack thereof. Jesus didn’t heal everybody. The Apostles didn’t heal everybody. This is because the healing was to draw the attention of the afflicted and those around them to God for the ultimate healing. There is no greater healing then when a person has their spirit resurrected from the dead through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).” Some people, especially the Apostles, did what Jesus was doing; healing people and raising them from the dead. However, what did Jesus mean by “greater things.” The greater things He spoke of is people having the life of God restored to them when they are born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus said He was “going to the Father;” so He could send the Holy Spirit. We don’t all get healed of our sicknesses and we don’t all get brought back to this life once we die (only to die again like Lazarus). But we all get the life of God restored to us for eternity. And when you have His life indwelling you, your spirit is healed and some day you will get a new, glorious body free from the effects of sin we struggle with today. It is not about limiting God, but putting faith in a limitless God. It is not about the size of your faith, but the size of the God you put your faith in.