Key Scripture:

“A time to kill, and a time to heal;” Ecclesiastes 3:3a

Devotional:

In our modern world today, every single one of us experiences brokenness in one way or another. So everybody loves the topic of healing, and it’s right that they should – after all, ”He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds.” He is Jehovah Rapha, God our Healer. It’s not just what He does, it’s who He is.

On the other hand, it’s not easy to think about a good time to kill. When is the time for that? War? Well, who really wants a war? How about another example – death row? There’s so much controversy around that, too. Death is hard to think about, and difficult to deal with. We don’t like to think about or talk about it much.

As difficult as it is for us to think or talk about death, God doesn’t avoid the subject. There is one very important example of killing and healing that He has given as a gift to us, and that is in the story of Jesus. The good news of Jesus Christ is that He was killed so that we could be healed, not just physically but spiritually. Isaiah 53: 4-5 says:

“Surely he has borne our griefs
     and carried our sorrows;
 yet we esteemed him stricken,
     smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
     he was crushed for our iniquities;
 upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
     and with his wounds we are healed.”

Sin separated you and me from God, but the death of Jesus paid the debt of our sin that we could never repay so that we could be restored to a relationship with God.  He rose from the dead, conquering death forever so that we too could be free from spiritual death. If you believe that Jesus’s death counted for YOU, and paid the debt for YOUR sin, then you can experience this spiritual healing that I’m writing about. If you’ve never surrendered your life to Jesus, today is the day. Pray this prayer, and I encourage you to pray it out loud, to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I admit to You that I’m a sinner. I believe when Jesus pushed up on His nail-pierced feet and cried out, “It is finished,” that it counted for me. I confess Jesus as the Lord of my life. I surrender to You, and I want to do things Your way from here on out. Thank You, Lord for saving me from my sin, and making a way that I can be in a relationship with You forever. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Deepening questions:

• Have you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? If yes, reflect on that and thank God for His grace. If not, what is holding you back? 
• Who is the person you are praying surrenders their life to Christ (we call this your #onemore)? How can you talk to them about Jesus? 

Further reading: 

John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24