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Among the many listed titles of Jesus contained in scripture, we do not find that of ‘doctor’ apart from this event. History tells us that He was and remains the ‘greatest physician’. Matthew 14:14, “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.” A physician in Greek culture was one with skills and abilities to heal and make whole someone who was diseased or injured. Luke 4:40, “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.”

A recent study of the gospels highlighted that, along with preaching the Kingdom of God, one of the main activities undertaken by Jesus was that of healing. The extent of His desire to heal was beyond understanding. Matthew 4:23, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

His quote above, however, has the underlying assumption of true healing through His future victory on the cross. Natural healing miracles were a sign to the Jewish nation of His power and of fulfilling the words of the prophets. The power of His victory on the cross, however provides for the healing of all nations from the human condition. Psalm 67:2, “That thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations.”

Sin is an inherited disease from which humanity has no immunity, and which will result in death both of the body and soul. The ONLY healing lies in Jesus Christ and the cure He has set in place allowing mankind to be reborn with a new, divine nature. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This healing by grace through faith, is accessible to all but we must go to the only physician who has the authority to dispense such a cure. The understanding of the value of the healing power of Grace to enable us to put on a new man should cause continual Thanksgiving in our heart.

We are reminded of when Jesus healed the ten who were stricken with leprosy. Leprosy can be likened to the sin which affects and corrupts our body, often resulting in ostracising from all that is good. Although He healed ten, only one valued what had been done to him declaring, Luke 17:15-16, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”

Let us at all times value this healing from the Lord so that we may also experience the Lord’s response, Verse 19, “And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”

The importance of faith cannot be overstated, but it must be placed in the truth. By definition, faith is a belief that endures in the face of doubt, and it includes trust and reliance. Therefore, as Paul confirms for Titus, it must be in someone who is faithful, truthful, and reliable. It must be in God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Faith allows us to access the Grace whereby we are saved from the price of our imperfections. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Is the Apostle Paul contradicting himself in these above two descriptions? Are works required or not? As always, we need to place these verses back into the context of where they were written. In both, Paul is telling us that Grace is what saves. Titus 3:7, “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

But once saving is experienced, a change in relationship with God requires the building of a divine nature within us, which is visible in our good works and words. Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The journey begins with God’s mercy, manifests in our life as Grace, and lives in the way we follow Christ as part of His spiritual body on earth, the church. Titus 3:4-5, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

Faith allows us access to saving Grace, but saving Grace allows our faith to live through good works. James 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

The importance of faith cannot be overstated, but it must be placed in the truth. By definition, faith is a belief that endures in the face of doubt, and it includes trust and reliance. Therefore, as Paul confirms for Titus, it must be in someone who is faithful, truthful, and reliable. It must be in God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Faith allows us to access the Grace whereby we are saved from the price of our imperfections. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Is the Apostle Paul contradicting himself in these above two descriptions? Are works required or not? As always, we need to place these verses back into the context of where they were written. In both, Paul is telling us that Grace is what saves. Titus 3:7, “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

But once saving is experienced, a change in relationship with God requires the building of a divine nature within us, which is visible in our good works and words. Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The journey begins with God’s mercy, manifests in our life as Grace, and lives in the way we follow Christ as part of His spiritual body on earth, the church. Titus 3:4-5, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

Faith allows us access to saving Grace, but saving Grace allows our faith to live through good works. James 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

This verse in some Bibles is titled, ‘the comfort of the believer in the day of the Lord’. The day of the Lord’s return is one step closer each time the sun rises, which should cause us to consider what manner of preparation we are undertaking.

Apostle Peter asked the same question. 2 Peter 3:11, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”

 The thread in both Peter’s message and Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is the ‘Word of God’. Peter encourages us to use this word in our lives so that we have ‘holy conversations’ in our preparation. Paul underlines the need to hear the gospel truth (v14) as a calling first and then respond by believing in it. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Belief of the truth (Word of God) and sanctification of the spirit, according to Apostle Paul, allows salvation for our soul. With the comfort of this knowledge and the confidence of faith in its surety, we can then journey calmly to the Lord’s return without fear.

2 Thessalonians 3:5, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

This greeting to a loved Christian brother at the beginning of John’s third epistle, highlights the two treasures required for community fellowship, LOVE and TRUTH.

The Apostle John continues in the remainder of the letter to identify what is seen when those two precious stones are missing or overwritten by natural desires.

Love and truth are indeed like precious jewels in our lives, and as time moves on, they seem to be getting rarer and rarer in our western society. We have the God given ability, as Gaius did, to make sure those treasures are valued and visible within our daily interactions.

Recently I witnessed a brother who works with precious gems showing and describing the process of taking raw stones and highlighting their natural beauty in jewellery. Love and truth also require cutting, polishing, and shining within our lives so they can be appreciated by others. They must first be sought out amongst all of the distractions of modern life.

Jesus Christ was the epitome of love and truth in His life upon this earth. Those traits which were so precious in Him, were also visible to those around Him in His words and actions and we are still beneficiaries of their effects today.

Love was required for a perfect God to lay down His life for imperfect mankind.  The result being His unmerited favour as Saving Grace for all.

John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

As the spiritual body of Christ on earth, let us endeavour to shine forth those treasures of love and truth to those around us.

At the start of each New Year of Grace many people make plans and resolutions in order to achieve gain in their life. Logically, the ‘gain’ we desire shapes the goals we set and the actions we take to achieve them.

The Apostle Paul gave sound advice (above) on this matter to Timothy and all who laboured in his time. He reminds us that we ‘brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out’ (V7) but our passing from this life must be prepared for during this life. There is no greater gain than our soul’s salvation to eternal life. We sing, ‘the sky not the grave is our goal’ or as Apostle Paul also puts it, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Our contentment in this life is not dependent on the ‘things’ we have but upon the peace and joy within our life, which can only truly come from access to godliness.

Global changes have caused us all to reflect a little more upon life and its purpose. On a recent family gathering at a seaside location, I saw the following sign outside a coffee shop:

“Good health is the new wealth,

Gratitude is the new attitude.”

All good gifts in our life come from the loving, Heavenly Father. Let us all seek His blessings and therewith be content.

We read in our text our Lord’s words “Doubt not” and this should lead us to ponder on what doubting means. If we take the dictionary, we find that it is a state of mind, that hangs between two contradictory conclusions, or in simple terms, a place where we park in our mind, at a T junction, before we continue our journey one way or another. In the spiritual sense, we see clearly then why the Lord said we should avoid this stop, particularly when it pertains to our desire to follow His words and commandments. If we allow ourselves to doubt and pause in our quest, Satan is immediately there, and because of the doubt, we can then have a battle on our hands.

In the natural we have all experienced how, if we set out to do something and then doubt our ability to see it through, we usually fail. How often on T.V. have we seen a sportsman or woman about to perform a high jump or weight lift, and at the last minute, doubt appears in their eyes and they usually fail. The downfall of man and woman had its origin in doubt and we read in Genesis 2:17 God’s Commandment, “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest there of, thou shalt surely die.” While Adam and Eve had no doubt in God’s words, they lived under God’s blessings, but when Satan came to Eve and put an alternate view to her in Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.” Because of the doubt shown by Eve, Satan was able to lead them to disobedience to God’s words.

The consequence of allowing doubt to creep into our faith in Christ, is shown in many parts of the Bible. One of these graphic examples is when the Apostles saw Christ walking on the water   and Peter asked the Lord “to bid me come to thee”, and the Lord commanded “come”.   Peter did not doubt that single word and walked on the water toward Christ, but when the weather became boisterous and in Peter’s mind he paused and let doubt in, then he sank and called to the Lord to save him. Christ’s words should ring clear to us even to-day; “0 thou of little faith, wherefore dids’t thou doubt?”

In our daily life, both natural and spiritual, we are confronted daily with happenings and teachings which require us to try the situation, we call on our common sense to test the natural things and we should call on God’s spirit within us, to test the spiritual to see if they are possible in the natural and from God’s word in the spiritual. Once we have determined these things, our faith should then take over and we should proceed. It is only when doubt is allowed to come to the fore, that we are deviated, which usually leads to failing and unhappiness.

Having seen the downside of doubt, we should take heart from our Lord’s promises in our text, if we can overcome doubt in our lives, we can see the great blessings that can flow. Christ likened the trials and tests that come into our lives as mountains, (mountains of cares, etc.) but He promised that if we have faith in Him, and doubt not, we can command that those mountains be removed and cast into the sea. And His further promise that all things asked in His name in prayer, doubting not, ye shall receive.

To help us overcome this doubt in our lives, God has given us His Spirit. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:4-5 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” If we can all devote some   time to overcome “doubt” in our lives, we will appreciate and taste more and more, the blessings of God.