Walk Like a Healed Christian

Articles

Edwin Crozier
11/15/15 - Christian Living

Walk Like a Healed Christian

In Acts 3:1-10, God healed a man lame since birth. In Acts 4:8-12, when Peter and John were before the Jewish council defending their actions, Peter explains this healing is a great object lesson regarding spiritual healing. Just as there is only one name that can provide this kind of physical healing, there is only one name that can provide spiritual salvation. This means there are some significant parallels between the healing of the lame man and our healing. Let’s think of some.

Lesson #1: The goal of healing is to walk. God didn’t heal this man so he could keep begging at the gate of the temple. He healed him to walk. God doesn’t save us so we can continue to live like spiritually lame people. He healed us to walk.

Lesson #2: We must respond in faith if we want to be healed. Imagine being lame your whole life and a guy reaches out his hand and says, “Get up and walk.” What would you do? I’d slap his arm away and tell him to quit mocking me. But this man took the offered hand and attempted to get up. This man was not healed because he walked, but walked because he was healed. However, he had to choose to take the proffered hand before either could happen. We aren’t saved because we walked with Christ, but are able to walk with Christ because we are saved. However, God doesn’t force us to be healed. If we want the healing to be able to walk, we have to take the proffered hand.

Lesson #3: God’s power accomplishes the healing. This man didn’t heal himself. Only Jesus’s name can provide healing. We can’t save ourselves. Only Jesus’s name can save us.

Lesson #4: Walk like you’ve been healed. How should that healed man act the next day when he realizes healing means he has to go to work instead of begging for others to support him? He is supposed to walk. We are in Christ. We’ve been healed. We need to walk like it (cf. Eph. 4:1).

Lesson #5: Give God the glory when you walk. The man went walking and leaping and praising God for those first few steps. But what should he do when he had been walking for 10 years? The same thing. Every step was a reminder of God’s healing. When we walk with God, we shouldn’t think that is a reason for God to glorify us, but a reason for us to glorify Him. Even if we’ve been walking with Him for years, we need to remember that the power to walk comes from Him.

Lesson #6: Don’t atrophy. If this man decided to go back to his beggar’s perch and never walk again, do you know what would happen to his healed legs? They would atrophy. He would lose the ability to walk. If we choose not to walk, we will spiritually atrophy and lose the healing God has given us.

Lesson #7: If you fall down, get back up. Imagine what might happen if this man stumbles and falls. “Oh no! I knew I’d not be able to walk forever. Why did I even bother trying?” However, he needs to remember he is healed by God and get back to walking. When we stumble, instead of giving up because we are certain we can’t walk faithfully forever, we need to remember we have been saved by God. We need to get back up and walk like healed Christians.

If you are in Christ, you’ve been healed. Walk like it.