Be Part of Another's Healing Process

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah with these piercing and revealing words: "Surely he took up our infirmities and bore our suffering" (Isaiah 53:4). Centuries later, Matthew would echo this truth after witnessing Christ's ministry: "He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases" (Matthew 8:17). As Christians we have an obligation and responsibility to assist in the healing process of one another. Every Christian must aught to be a healer. We may not have the divine healing powers like Jesus. But Luke 4: 38-44 gives us a Christian protocol for healing others.

Make Time for Others

We live in an age obsessed with self-care and personal boundaries. These aren't wrong, but they become hollow when they close us off from others entirely. Jesus, despite having every reason to focus on his mission, made time for Simon's mother-in-law. He didn't schedule her healing around his convenience—he simply showed up.

The profound truth is this: Time is the currency of love. When we give our time to someone in pain, we're saying their suffering matters more than our comfort. We're declaring that healing happens not in isolation, but in community.

Never Refuse the Good You Can Do

If it's within your power to help—whether through a ride to the doctor, sitting beside a sickbed, or offering financial support—then hesitation becomes a form of cruelty. Jesus laid hands on everyone who came to him. He didn't ration his grace or calculate whether people deserved it.

This challenges us deeply. How often do we withhold simple kindnesses because we're too busy, too tired, or too worried about being taken advantage of? The good we can do today may be the good we cannot do tomorrow. Opportunity has an expiration date.

Then Move On

Here lies the most counterintuitive wisdom: True love knows when to leave. After Jesus healed, he moved on to the next town, despite crowds begging him to stay. Why? Because healthy healing creates independence, not dependence.

We help someone in need because of the affection and love that we have for that person, be it our children, and be it others. But because we have help and then we make the other indebted to us and want the other to serve us, then our affection gradually becomes abuse. When our help transforms from gift to chain—when we use our good deeds to keep others indebted to us—we corrupt the very love we meant to share. The moment we heal someone so they will serve us, our affection becomes abuse.

Jesus understood something that we often miss: The goal of helping others isn't to make them need us forever. It's to help them find their own strength, their own wholeness, their own ability to heal others in turn.

This creates a beautiful paradox: We are called to be deeply involved in others' pain and completely unattached to the outcome. We show up fully, give sacrificially, then move on completely. "Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing" isn't just about humility—it's about freedom. Freedom for us to love without strings attached, and freedom for others to heal without obligation.

In a world that either demands everything from us or nothing at all, Jesus shows us a third way: engaged compassion—always available, always giving, never clinging.

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