Are You Well?

i woke up yesterday with a pretty sore throat and one of those achy, far-away headaches that gets progressively worse as the day goes on.  My brother is down with strep again, and immediately i have this fear-driven reaction that I've got strep throat.  then i calm myself down and speak some sense to myself.  okay...you're over-reacting.  you probably just slept funny, with your mouth open all night long, and the cold air irritated your throat.  quit jumping to the worst conclusion.  by the end of the day, though, I was pretty miserable.  so miserable that i went to bed at 10:30 on New Years' Eve.  i woke up today feeling marginally better, after a very sporadic night's sleep.  I'm a tummy sleeper, but because i was congested i had to sleep on my back...so I didn't sleep very well. 

and i was afraid that today, my first real day back at work in two weeks, i wouldn't be able to function because i felt so crappy.  fortunately, I'm feeling better.  I'm not at 100%, but i feel a lot better than i did yesterday.  (which is good because I'm at work until midnight). 

so, despite feeling a little under the weather, I'm pushing through.  and I'm thinking about health.  not necessarily physical health.  just health.  being health, living health, loving health, speaking health.  no...this is not some new age, eat-only-hummus-and-tofu-and-put-special-crystals-on-your-pressure-points business.  this is about living well.  it's about being in that River in Ezekiel 47:1-12 that heals.  because the fact is that our health is a promise if we are saved.  i know that's not something a lot of people walk around claiming.  and i'm not saying that if you know Jesus, you're not ever going to get sick.  but, what i am saying is that the word tells us in Mark 2:1-12 that our healing and our salvation are both taken care of through our belief in Christ.  When Jesus healed that paralytic, he didn't just say "get up and walk."  he said, "your sins are forgiven" and then when everyone threw a fit about him claiming to have the power to forgive sins, he said, "take up your bed and walk."  doing this, he demonstrated that through him healing and forgiveness of sins are one and the same.

our physical, mental, and spiritual health are guaranteed in Christ.  humanity is spiritually sick, and it is only through Jesus that we are made well, that we are SAVED from the sickness of selfishness, or sin, of flesh.  and because of that we are granted the promise of physical and mental and emotional well-being.  this doesn't mean we won't struggle.  this doesn't mean we won't have sickness.  what it does mean is that we are not mastered by the struggles or the sicknesses.

so, my question to you all today, as we embark on this new year is this:  Are you well?  Have you been made well by accepting the health that is found in Christ Jesus?  And if you are, are you living like you're well, and are you taking that wellness to those around you who are unwell?