Am I Good Enough?

Though many of our Sunday morning church messages and faith sharing experiences are loaded with evidence that we can not ever be "good enough" to get into heaven, I wonder why many of us are still acting as though we ought to be "good enough" to receive healing from Christ.

Here's an example. Some time after I came to know the Lord, I began battling with my inability to control my anger, my drinking, and many other aspects of my life. I remember going to church and searching for the answer to my personal struggles. It seemed as though everyone else had found a way to deal with their problems. By faith, I understood that Jesus could save me from my condition, but I thought that in order for him to help me, I would need to make changes in my life before I could grasp hold of him. I continued in this way for a long while before I came to understand the following aspects of God's character.

God does not expect any of us to be good enough in order to receive the healing that comes from his son's love and fellowship. Look at this example of Christ's interaction with a man desperate for God's healing:

"A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.' Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be clean!' Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." (Mark 1:40-42)

This brief story contains two elements which are essential to our understanding of God's ministry to our hurts and even our habits. The first part of the story shows that though we are weak, poor, sick, addicted, hurt, or anything else that we might think could keep us from approaching Christ, we can confidently approach him (Hebrews 4:15-16), knowing that we are justified not by our own works, but by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). The man in this story confessed his belief in the Lordship of Jesus by simply affirming that Jesus "can make [him] clean." Apart from his confession of faith, the man could do nothing to save himself from his condition.

The second part of the story gives us a picture of God's priorities. Notice that before Jesus healed the man, he touched him. This brief glimpse of the character of Jesus gives us insight with respect to God's desire to be intimate with us. Jesus knew that this man had been forced to live apart from his family and community due to his communicable disease. Therefore, Jesus also knew the importance of touching a man whom no one else would ever think of touching. This story communicates that our Creator desires to do for us that which no one else can. He intends to meet us where we are, no matter the mess we've made or suffered, to be intimate with us, and to heal us.