Week 21 — MONDAY

We are considering “in every way you were enriched in Him.” “In every way” includes the body. I have often imagined a convention of bodies talking about the people who inhabit them. A body stands up and says: “Oh my, the man who lives in me doesn’t know how to live. He ties me up into knots by his fears and worries and resentments. Then he blames me for getting out of sorts, and I’m dosed with all kinds of medicines that have nothing to do with my ailments. If he knew how to live I would have no ailments. My ailments are all rooted in his wrong attitudes and reactions. I wish he knew how to live. I’d be well.” Another body stands up and says, “The man who lives in me is wonderful. He lives in Christ and hence knows how to live. He is harmonious and adjusted and happy. You should see how we get along. I would do anything for him—and do! I go beyond my own capacity for such a man—he’s a joy to live with.”

The body is made by Christ, for Christ, and lives as it lives in Him. Some time ago I was threatened with a serious ailment. In the midst of it the Lord said, “In Me you are well and whole.” That phrase struck me—“In Me.” Out of Him I was not well and whole, but in Him I found that I was well and whole and have continued to be as I have remained in Him. It is as simple and profound as that! Here was a woman who because of her impossible way of life became ill, and one after another had to have her appendix, her gall bladder, and other organs taken out. The doctor said, “What are you going to do when you run out of parts?” She was allergic to all sorts of things. Then she was converted and began to live in Christ. Her allergies dropped away, her body bounded back to health, and she has amazing vitality and health. The body is His home and is at home in Him.

O Christ, You heal our sicknesses, but more, You save us from getting sick. We throw off our sicknesses by Your vitality within us. We live in Your health, Your joy—Your everything! I thank You. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: May I be so healthy in Christ that no disease germ can gain a lodging.