Being Made Whole…

Wholeness is a much talked about subject in certain circles. In the legal profession, being made whole refers to a person receiving back everything they lost. In the world of health, being made whole means the removal of every cause for ill health resulting in full restoration. Even the word “whole” itself would seem to indicate the complete absence of missing parts. A related word, “wholesome” is a title reserved for those living a healthy lifestyle, mentally and physically, to include being generally good to all people. Who doesn’t love a wholesome person? Unfortunately perhaps, wholeness isn’t something that just happens to a person, but rather it comes from God who is interested in repairing and restoring every part of a person’s life. Assuming you hve some parts of your life that aren’t so good, don’t you want to be made whole?

In life, often you don’t know until you know. Absent God’s wisdom and insight, human beings are left alone to base their expectations for reality on their experiences in life. It’s like setting a bar where there is no bar. We achieve certain things or don’t and draw conclusions about how life works and what the experience of life is all about. Our general level of happiness becomes solely determined by how much happiness we have concluded we can enjoy. We really don’t know until we know. How many times have you discovered some new aspect of life that you did not know existed before? Or, how many times have you had a unique experience that sort of clued you into a reality that there is perhaps more available for you to enjoy? However for some people, this idea is completely unfamiliar and it is so because they have already formed a final opinion, again based solely on their experiences. They reach a stage where they already know the outcome because the outcome they get is the outcome they always get. Thus the sad conclusion, there is nothing more. Yet there is so much more but you don’t know until you know.

For me, one of the greatest joys of my relationship with God is His unreserved willingness to clue me into things I do not know. He helps me to understand what is really going on. The more I understand, the more whole I become. I’m learning that God is interested in every part of my life. As the source of life, He is an expert on the best way to enjoy life. He sees through the darkness and error and is willing to pass that valuable information on to me. He never criticizes me or condemns me, but rather He gently guides me along with long patience for my mistakes. He is my Father after all. Like you, I don’t know until I know either. But one thing I do know is that He is the One with the answers; with every solution I could ever need. He knows just how long it is going to take me to learn something and keeps teaching me until I finally get it. Some lessons have taken me many years to learn. Some I am still learning. But His master plan is always wholeness for all people. He seeks to give me back that which has been taken from me. He wants to restore my health even when I am uncooperative with Him. He is well aware of every place that I do not fully trust Him and daily shows me why I should. He knows how I grew up and what sorts of things got lodged in my heart. And faithfully He reveals by His light what was formerly dark. In this He seeks to make me whole in every possible way so I can live life on the high road with Him.

It seems to take people many years to learn, if at all, that God is only good always. He doesn’t have a dark side. He is not good today and bad tomorrow. He is not pernicious or whimsical, nor does He play games with our lives. He does not set up tests and challenges for us like pawns but rather uses the challenge or opportunity to teach us more. If you believe that God is capable of doing bad things to you to teach you lessons or does things for reasons you cannot possibly understand, then you have the wrong stuff going on in your mind. God always, always wants you to understand. He does not seek punishment for you nor does He bring about evil in order to  make you good. That sort of thinking, which is always a deception, is designed to do nothing more than to make you not trust Him and what He wants to do for you. You will never be able to trust Him to help make you whole if you have that stuff going on in your head. Your wholeness is never based on or initiated by that which you do (or don’t do). If that were so then you could make yourself whole. Here’s a newsflash, absent His help you can never be made whole. In order to be whole you have to be “made” whole. You don’t have to initiate it. He initiates it. All you have to do is to be willing to receive it from Him. You are made whole by a knowledge of the truth. The more truth you know and believe, the more you will become whole. The truth sets you free (and that doesn’t mean to stop lying). The Word of God is truth. It is light to your soul. It illuminates the error and lies we have all believed at one time or another. It exposes the darkness for what it is, darkness. You are whole in proportion to how much Word of God lives in your heart.

God desires for you to be made whole even more than you could desire it. He wants you to be whole because He loves you so much. He sees your heartache and hears your cries, even when you do not verbalize them. He knows exactly where you suffer and like any father worth his salt, wants to alleviate your suffering. He wants for you to experience the best parts of life. He wants to heal you. He seeks to put back together that which has been separated. He is trying to get to you, to get your attention so He can show you just that. He won’t overstep your freewill but He will move mountains for you when He knows you are ready. He is God Almighty the Creator of the heavens and the earth and nothing is too hard for Him. Haven’t you lived long enough trying to work it out on your own? Haven’t you already missed out on some of the richness of life? Haven’t you had your share or more than your share of heartache and loss? Well then maybe it is time to try something new. Instead of spending all day looking inward, why not reach upward? Why not at least consider there is something more maybe and give Him a chance? You really have nothing to lose except your fear and endless defeats in life. Do you need to be made whole? Then why not let Him do what He promises to do? You’ll never be disappointed. I guarantee you!

Just some good thoughts…