Healed people heal people

And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

It is not about us. How often have you heard this said, and wondered what it means? There are seasons when, in some senses, it has been about you. God loves us and simply wants the best for us. Psalm 35:27 says, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

The truth is, we also want you to be whole so that you are optimally equipped to serve God’s purposes on earth. He wants our healed hurt to be a source of healing for others. 2 Corinthians 1 makes it clear that we comfort others with the comfort that we ourselves have received. The Message puts it this way:

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort - we get a full measure of that, too.

Hanging onto our brokenness—the hard times—does not do us any good. It also renders us less effective in serving others. Beyond that, it makes us vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy, especially when we get outside our comfort zone and go on mission ventures. Make no mistake: many people are healed as they go. We have seen many businesspeople touched physically, emotionally and spiritually while pouring their lives out to serve others. 

God gives us seasons which he designs to help us identify areas where we may still need some healing, find trusted sources of help, and develop a game plan to move forward. 

Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit! - taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.

1 Thessalonians 1:6

When we lose our lives, we find it. We need to be whole not for our own sakes alone, but so that we can be effective in loving, reflecting, and serving Jesus. As someone has said, “Hurt people hurt; healed people heal.”

Reflections

• Have you identified where your hurts have been a liability?
  
  
  
• Have you resolved to have God transfer them from the “liability” to the “asset” section of your life?
  
  
  
• Have you determined to turn away from self-pity, if this is a factor in your life?
  
  
  
• Have you requested prayer for this, where needed?