The Gratitude Gospel?

Something finally broke inside. Enough already. For six months something had been stirring. Something unsettled, exactly that same unsettled feeling that haunted me through the early fall of 2010 when The Hole In Our Gospel stuck real poverty in my face and something broke.

Enough already.

Sure, I cannot fix the world, but I can commit to throwing as many starfish in the water as I can. The work is ultimately God’s, nothing saps our spirit quicker than believing the lie that this whole thing depends on us. It doesn’t. But His work of conviction, that snap inside where we finally say, Enough already, it enlists us in His troops to choose His cares above our own, and we get the joy of living beyond ourselves.

What Enough already am I talking about? The Enough already with not doing, living, and seeing what the Bible clearly teaches. Enough already with over-spiritualizing the gospel, ignoring the real needs right in front of our faces, the very needs Jesus did not ignore.[bctt tweet=”Enough already with over-spiritualizing the gospel, ignoring the real needs Jesus did not ignore.”]

Last time, the revelation was that the Bible clearly teaches God’s heart toward the widow, orphan, alien, poor. God’s Word clearly teaches we are to serve, love, uphold, and give to help the least of these. Scripture clearly teaches that our hearts will be where our money is, so when we turn our funds toward the least, we turn our hearts there too.

It’s clear.

Strangely enough, this is about that too. This is just another Enough already with not doing, living, and seeing what the Bible clearly teaches.

This time, the revelation is that the Bible clearly teaches Jesus healed all who came to Him with physical ailment. (Certainly not every sick person was healed during Jesus’ time on earth but every person who came to Him was. He never said “no” to a person seeking Him for healing.) “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matt. 8:17).[bctt tweet=”“He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matt. 8:17)”]

He used miraculous healings to teach spiritual truths, as a sign of His power, but He never negated or diminished or dismissed the very real presence of physical ailments and disease, but completely healed all who came to Him. God’s Word clearly teaches that He gave authority to His 12 disciples and the unnamed 72 followers and those of us who would come after them, commanding us to 1) Preach the gospel 2) Cast out demonic spirits, and 3) Heal the sick (Matt. 10:7-8, Luke 10:8-9). Scripture clearly commands us to lay hands on the sick and they will be healed (James 5:16).

Then why aren’t we and why aren’t they?

Of course I don’t know the answer. But I’m committing this year, as I read through the Bible, to write down everything the Scripture teaches about this. I’m only halfway through the gospel of Mark and there’s two whole pages already! Who knew the Bible was FULL of this stuff?!

For now, one thought:

There has come into our culture a movement that seems good but gets twisted out of proportion. Just as the Prayer of Jabez took a good prayer from Scripture and we blew it up out of proportion so that all we prayed was to have more territory and not have pain, so the new Gratitude Gospel takes everything in the world and gives thanks for it, chooses to see it as good.

That sounds fine, but everything is not good.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), not to give thanks for the works of the devil.  Yes, we are called to give thanks in everything, but not for everything. Nowhere in Scripture does a desperate, sick, suffering person come to Jesus and Jesus’ response to them is, “Hey, just look on the bright side!”[bctt tweet=”Never in Scripture does Jesus’ respond to a sick person, “Hey, look on the bright side!””]

No, He heals them. He delivers them. All of them. When we ignore the real stuff that Jesus did, we over-spiritualize the gospel, inadvertently removing much of the GOOD that is the Good News!

I know I’m walking a fine-line here. I do not mean to imply that giving thanks is bad. I’m a fanatic thank-er! In fact, often healing and victory come through thanksgiving. But only giving thanks is incomplete. So we ask, Are there ways we’ve turned gratitude into the whole gospel? Are there ways we have accepted evil, thinking we better just be more thankful, rather than fighting against it?

Are there ways we’ve given thanks for the works of the devil instead of destroying them?

Perhaps today, as we continue to give thanks, we might ask the Father if there is any way He desires us to also partner with Him in destroying the works of the devil. How can we fight against evil while still praising God for who He is? On this adventure with you. Thank you so much for reading.