Some of us think healing is something God gives arbitrarily – that is, if He feels like it and without explanation. God doesn’t have to explain, but I have to ask myself: Does this idea match what I know of God and His character?

Some people think that God will heal you, but only if you have enough faith to grab hold of it. In other words, He’s tossing the tennis ball over the net, but we have got to be standing in the right place or, be able to move in time and to the right place in order to serve that ball (of healing) into our bodies. Does this sound like God?

I wonder… Is healing for people who have enough faith? Is it for the lucky? Or, Is healing a way for God to get our attention? Is it His way of snapping His fingers, so we’ll look away from our earthly idols and priorities and interests…to listen to Him teach us about what’s heavenly and eternal and true? If that’s true, Would we see God healing in way that causes people who don’t believe in the name of Jesus Christ to look up and see Him? What kind of situation would have an audience of unbelievers looking on with interest?

I see in the Bible that Jesus Christ healed people and did miracles for and in the presence of those who weren’t saved by faith in Him. Lepers were healed, but they didn’t all see God in their healing (Luke 17:11-19.) Men saw blind eyes open yet weren’t sure whether what they were witnessing was good or evil (John 9:13-41.) Jesus did so much good according to the power and will of God the Father, but it didn’t shift everyone’s perspective from earthly to heavenly. His works were seeds, but they didn’t sprout into faith in every witness’s heart.

Jesus asked one of those 10 lepers, “Were there not ten who were purified? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17.) There’s a lot to take away from this passage of Sacred Scripture, but what I’ll point out now is: One man, considered a foreigner, had his mind changed about God when Jesus healed Him, and he knew in the aftermath of his healing that there was a Man to thank, a Man to whom glory belongs.

Salvation is the will of God – that is, that none should fail to reach repentance. The shadow of the grace demonstrated by Christ is evident in Abraham’s prayer for God’s mercy toward Sodom. For the sake of a few, God was willing to give grace to many (Genesis 18:22-33.) There are those who will change their minds about God in the face of God’s healing and miraculous grace. For their sake, He is willing to heal. He wants them to be given a chance to turn toward the light, though He knows some will love darkness.

I heard it said recently: Our wholeness is not in our bodies – not even in whether we have all of our body parts or, whether they function. Our wholeness is not in our ability to get the things we want for ourselves or for others. Our wholeness is not even in our health. Think about that idea for a moment.

What if wholeness is only to be found in Jesus Christ and nothing that we seek or have – outside of Him – in this temporary part of life? What if wholeness is in grace through faith in the name of Jesus Christ and only in that place?

How does that affect your theology regarding healing?