”According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” Phil. 1:20

Some of the incoming e-mails make me a little sad, but the fault is mine.  Friends would show kind interest in my health.  I may have focused too much on my physical condition myself which I deeply regret.  Of course good health is a blessing and a gift of God, but my prayer is slowly equaling  Phil. 1:20, namely that Christ be magnified or glorified in this frail body – by life or by death.

I may now collide with those who believe that nobody has to be sick because Jesus bore our sicknesses on the cross (which is a wrong interpretation of Isa. 53:4), but it´s a fact that the Lord has been glorified in many sick bodies.  Most of us have heard or read about Joni (60), that paralysed Christian woman in a wheelchair since 1967, whose testimony has been a blessing to Christians all over the world.  Let me mention another woman in Ca. who is very close to my heart.  She´s just one out of many:

We write to one another she being the daughter of one of my best friends in America, whom the Lord took away from us abt. 1 year ago.  She is a wonderful woman, mother of three beautiful children and in a happy marriage.  But her spinal column has a painful bend which the doctors can´t do anything about.  We have been praying much for her, but the Lord hasn´t been pleased to heal her.  So she´s a suffering child of God.  As far as I´m concerned she is another ”Joni”.  Her letters breathe out life and they always refresh my spirit.  It´s such a joy to let her share with me her experiences with Christ and her desire to share Him with others amidst her pains and her many domestic duties to which she´s very committed. She´s certainly one of the Lord´s weak vessels in whose body Christ is magnified day by day.

I don´t want this small devotional to be a biblical teaching on my doctrinal position, though I do feel tempted to season it with some solid teaching.  I just want to point to the fact that the Lord has his ”Jonis” among His tried children in this world, and only the eternity will reveal what He did to His glory through their lives.  I don´t know if these simple words may reach somebody who needs this encouragement.  I hope so.

-jn-

P.S.  Of course I believe that the Lord may still today do healing miracles – but He doesn´t always do so which however doesn´t thwart his loving plan with His suffering children..


Nov. 15, 2009