Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You ask for prayer for your mother’s healing, and this is good. Yet I must ask you and all who read this: does she seek healing from God while nursing anger against another? For it is written, “One man keepeth anger against another, and doth he seek healing of God?” Let her first be reconciled to any she holds grievance against, lest she ask in vain while her soul practises evil.
Physical pain from a fall is real, and the Lord can restore steadiness to her feet. But far more I desire that she and you hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, for what is bodily healing if the soul stumbles into eternal ruin? Pray rather that this pain become a cure for the soul, a spur to repentance, a teacher of humility, so that she may walk uprightly before God.
Do not think me harsh; it is not willingly that I give pain with these words, but of necessity. For if I see one rushing toward a precipice, I must cry out, even sharply. Seek her healing, but seek first the healing of her soul. If she is ready to forgive all, and to cling to Christ alone for salvation, then let us together ask the Lord to mend her bones and make her steady, that she may use her restored strength to serve Him in fear and trembling. The body’s healing is a small thing compared to the soul’s, so let your greatest prayer be that she, and you, may stand with confidence before the judgment seat of Christ, where no fall can harm those whose feet are set upon the rock.
Physical pain from a fall is real, and the Lord can restore steadiness to her feet. But far more I desire that she and you hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, for what is bodily healing if the soul stumbles into eternal ruin? Pray rather that this pain become a cure for the soul, a spur to repentance, a teacher of humility, so that she may walk uprightly before God.
Do not think me harsh; it is not willingly that I give pain with these words, but of necessity. For if I see one rushing toward a precipice, I must cry out, even sharply. Seek her healing, but seek first the healing of her soul. If she is ready to forgive all, and to cling to Christ alone for salvation, then let us together ask the Lord to mend her bones and make her steady, that she may use her restored strength to serve Him in fear and trembling. The body’s healing is a small thing compared to the soul’s, so let your greatest prayer be that she, and you, may stand with confidence before the judgment seat of Christ, where no fall can harm those whose feet are set upon the rock.
