Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, February 8, 2025.
We too often take a prescriptive approach to the Word. By that I mean we want to use scripture like a prescription for some pain rather than what it is: life for the person.
"Prescription" is the way of the world—like going to a bad doctor who prescribes pills that medicate you (things that make you feel better temporarily and in the process create all kinds of other issues), but doesn't heal you.
And we try to use scripture that way. It's like going to a good doctor who wants to heal you, who correctly diagnoses the issue and tells you the remedy is more leafy greens, and then we go get some kale and rub it where it hurts. 🤣
No. That's not how the remedy works. We must consume it consistently over time and its healing properties aren't isolated to just one area.
True healing comes through health, and health isn't isolationist—it's integrative.
We try to take scripture and rub it where it hurts. We're looking for specific passages, devotions, or Bible studies to alleviate specific pain and to solve specific problems, when the real problem is we're unhealthy—we're dead, or struggle with deadness.
Jesus came to give us life (John 10:10). His Word is the true food that gives life. He is life.
We don't apply it; we consume it. When we understand that, we stop picking through it looking to scratch an itch, looking for application. We consume the word because it's good, whether we understand it or not, or whether it seems relevant at the moment or not.
The health that food produces in us is rarely immediately perceptible. It produces its benefits over time. That's why our consumption can't just be something that we do in a moment, but a whole other way of living.
And it makes no sense to eat what's good and eat other things that counteract its effect. We have to choose one and abandon the other.
As we mature, we understand more about what it means to live a healthy lifestyle and how to choose life. We don't need a degree in organic chemistry, but we do develop a general understanding of what sources are good.
"Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
— James 1:16-17
Jesus is the source.
We consume Him that He may be formed in us and that we may become a picture of health.
That is the solution to every problem and the healing for every hurt. Healing isn’t compartmentalized; health is whole—it is One.
So our aim should be to consume for health rather than seeking a pill for symptoms. Life and health is having Him.
That's why we eat.